June 13/06 9:26 am - Canada Cup DH #3: Report & Photos

Posted by Editoress on 06/13/06
 

Canada Cup DH #3
Courtesy Transcend Magazine

Stop number three on the Canadian Downhill circuit took place in Mont Ste Anne, Quebec this past weekend. After a week's worth of rain, the course was spongy and waterlogged when the first riders took to it Friday afternoon. By late Friday, some of the faster straight aways were torn up and deep in mud, but the upper man made sections were holding up fairly well, all things considered. The lower section that most would recognize from Mont Ste Anne World Cup 4x photos, was a sloppy mess late on Saturday before course worked did an excellent job firming up the berms with gravel.

To keep the course rideable for Sunday, organizers made a wise decision to close practice 2 hours early on Saturday, much to the dismay of more than a few riders.

Race day saw heavy fog, and at times torrential rain, particularly for the last 20 Elite men when the skies opened up.

Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz Syndicate), ex World Champion and downhill superstar, was in town to familiarize himself with the new World Cup course, to be run in 2 weeks. Syndicate Mechanic, Mathieu Dupelle, had enough wherewithal to ask that Rennie be seeded either first, or last, so as not to interfere with any of the riders racing for points. The Aussie was sent out of the start gate first for the pro men and never looked back. He slid his way down the mud for a first place finish, as well as being the only rider to break the 3 minute barrier by riding his Santa Cruz to a 2:56.

Rennie had this to say after his run: "My run went pretty good, it was a super muddy race so it was hard to get down the hill clean. I was pretty happy to win. I didn't think my time would win as it started raining and it picked up and made the course a lot faster. I hit a tree here and there, but I tried to just practice the section that will be in the World Cup in 2 weeks."

Top Canadian was Eric Goss (Giant) who is now the Canada cup leader with a slim lead on team mate Luke Kitzanuk. Stoked on a 2nd place finish behind Rennie, he had this to say: "It was really cool to have Rennie here to push for. Riding with him on a non world cup weekend was really neat. [The weather] was off and on. We were in the start gate and in about 5 minutes it went through 3 phases of rain clear fog clouds and back to rain again. It was all over the place."

3rd place finisher was an exhasuted Charles-Alexandre Dube (Giant), who was pleased with his run given conditions. " I had a good run, the course is very foggy. I finished ok and am very happy."

For the ladies, Defending national champ Adrienne Miller (Devinci/ Daredevil) continued her domination of the downhill circuit in Canada with another win. She is now 3 for 3 on the Canada cup circuit this season. Miller simply rode over the field, winning by over 18 seconds in the soupy mud. Sheila Morris (Race/Momentum Cycle) and Mari-Eve Marcotte rounded out the podium and second and third places, respectively.

Podium and Race photos