August 21/13 11:19 am - Kindree and Walter 3-peat Champions at JABR

Posted by Editoress on 08/21/13
 

In the fourth and final series of the Test of Metal Events, Neal Kindree and Sandra Walter both successfully defended their JABR (Just Another Bike Race, presented by Pearson Financial Services Ltd.) titles on Saturday, August 17th, with both boasting a third consecutive win at the event.

The race got off to a dry start with periods of sunny skies and although the rain clouds threaten to dampen the trails they failed to deliver. The previous day's rain certainly had an impact on the trails, as Squamish had just experienced a rainless month of July. The riders would not experience the challenges of staying hydrated this year as in years past. After the race, racers were in agreement that this course was very unique and perhaps a new favourite in the series of events held in Squamish.

Kindree eventually took over the lead of the race to the finish after Kris Sneddon went off course, an error which cost him a podium finish.  Sneddon eventually placed sixth overall. Sneddon is almost a local to Squamish, as he resides in the nearby community of Sechelt and he has been a great supporter of the ToM Events, so it was unfortunate to see him make a mistake that cost him the win. He will be hungrier for that win next year for sure.

Kindree's finishing time was 2:10:12, an impressive time on the longer JABR course which contained more singletrack this year. Kindree, of Squamish, now has three wins from three starts in the 2013 ToM Series.

Sandra Walter, of Coquitlam, was the women's top rider with a time of 2:27:53, followed by Squamish's own Brandi Heisterman, who completed the technical JABR course in 2:35:34. Walter is another three start - three wins rider this year, as she had already won the Orecrusher back in May and the Test of Metal in June (the same races as Kindree).

JABR had an uphill and downhill timed section again this year since it was such a success last year. This year's Uphill Timed Section Male winner was Lutz Baumgartel from Germany and the female winner was Sandra Walter. This year's downhill male winner is a local rider revered for his singletrack skills but mostly for making and managing them, as he is an active trails coordinator with the local bike club, SORCA. Roland Benesocky is a singletrack master, taking the win in the timed downhill section by five seconds over another local, Joel Harwood. The female winner of the downhill section was yet another local rider, Brandi Heisterman. The winners of both the uphill and the downhill receive unique prizes that will surely make an appearance at some event in the future.

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