September 19/09 6:13 am - Schladming World Cup: Junior Men and Women's XC report, photos and results

Posted by Editoress on 09/19/09
 

Canadian Junior cross-country champion Evan Guthrie (Team Canada) finished off the season with a strong fifth place at the World Cup Final in Schladming, Austria. World champion Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Italy) won the four lap race after a race long battle with Julian Schelb (Germany) and Michiel Van Der Heijden (Netherlands). Canada's Mitch Bailey finished 22nd.

Photos
Junior Men
Junior Women

On a climber's course that did not suit Guthrie, he used superior descending skills to pull back Ricardo Marinheiro (Portugal) and Tomas Paprstka (Czech Republic) in the final lap, and then put on a surge on the last climb to take the lead on them for fifth.

"Oh man, that was so hard, so much climbing. They were gapping me on the climbs and then I would pull back a bit on the descents. I caught up to them before the [first] climb on the last lap, but then they attacked again and gapped me. I was just able to reel them in a bit at a time. Fourth last week and fifth this week is a good way to end the season."

In the Junior women's race, favoured Michelle Hediger (Switzerland) pulled away from the rest of the field before the end of the first lap in the three lap race, and easily took her second consecutive Junior Challenge win. Helen Grobert (Germany) and Lisa Mitterbauer (Team Bikepark.Ch) took second and third respectively. Top Canadian was Samantha Grover (Team Canada) in 14th place, followed by Cayley Brooks (Team Canada) in 17th.

"It was so hard, but I'm really pleased with my race, it is my hardest and best race ever. This is the first World Cup I have finished, so I'm definitely happy."