August 13/99 8:15 am - Meade & Watson Take Dual Titles

Posted by Editor on 08/13/99
 

Meade and Watson for Dual  Tera Meade (Ellsworth/Java Racing) took her second consecutive Dual title, and Dave Watson (Rocky Mountain) overcame a missed gate to take the men‚s title at the Canadian National Dual Championships earlier this evening.  The course was one of the longest seen in recent memory, and was made even harder by the muddy conditions caused by rain earlier in the day. Despite the conditions, the riders had praise for the course. "A great course, fun." said Meade.  Meade has been Canada‚s top Dual racer at the recent World Cup‚s, and her new-found confidence showed through in the final, against Lorraine Blancher (Schwinn Homegrown). The two were neck-and-neck in the upper half of the course, but Blancher crashed in a 180 banked corner about halfway down. "I had nowhere to go, except down or off the course", said Blancher. Meade didn‚t look back as she rolled down the course to take the title. Daamiann Skelton (Rocky Mountain) took the bronze medal ride from Aleisha Cline (Ellsworth/Java Racing)  There was a little bit of controversy in the men‚s final, when Watson missed a gate right at the top of the course. "My foot slipped off the pedal and I had no control. I just went around the gate and rolled back onto the course." Watson took the lead as he and American Shaums March (Schwinn-Toyota) entered the lower half of the course, and won by half a wheel at the line. After the race the 1997 Dual champion explained to the officials what happened, and they decided that it did not materially affect the outcome. Doug Beattie (Kona Factory Team) took the ride off for third.   Kevie's Nationals - Part 1

It's raining! Straight down. Just like those days at the cottage, stuck inside with your little sister. To go out would mean soaked to the skin before you could say dual slalom. If it occurred to you to say something that silly, at your cottage, in the summer, during a torrential downpour. Here it is the obvious thing to do. The qualifiers are over and a time of 1:08.3 gets you a 6th place start for the finals. Fun course lots of rock face with sandy clay between. Nothing like wet sand in your shorts∑ let's not go there.

Weather is no dampener to the spirit. Lot's of folk sitting about, in the chalet, yakking, catching up with friends since the last race. There is a kid outside, about 10, he has been bunny hopping, back and forth across a puddle for the last 5 minutes.

For the really determined types there is a Team Relay. Four riders, one female, one junior, one Espoir (that's Under 23 male), one Elite male, two laps each and hand off the water bottle. How long? Too long in this rain. The sky is getting lighter, but the rain is getting closer to a monsoon. Do I seem obsessed with the weather? The fog in the trees is very pretty and you kind of expect one of the local moose to wander out onto the course.

Inside with Tim Horton's coffee and cookies is, to my mind, a much better plan.

Out in the real world the Dual finals are starting. Why are they going so slow? Well it's like racing on Peanut butter just not so sticky. Ever see axle grease contaminated with water? That would be the surface consistency of the Dual course. The good news is that the rain has chosen not to hang around to watch the finals. Best spot was the double jump, a naturally occurring feature on ski hills. Lots of styling. Spectators loved it, and a good time was had by all. Which is what this is all about.


Canadian Nationals - Team Relay