September 18/10 19:04 pm - Crank the Shield Stage 2

Posted by Editoress on 09/18/10
 

Camp Kandalore to Camp White Pine – 77km

The riders were greeted with a breakfast of champions. The atmosphere was positive and the riders were vibrant with anticipation for Stage 2. Sean Ruppel, head course designer explained to the riders the night before in the stage preview meeting that Stage 2 would be epic and wet. Sean was not too far off, within the first 5 kilometres; riders had to navigate through deep puddles, mud bogs and technical rocky ascents.

The duo of Derek Zandstra and Tyson Wagler (3 Rox Racing) set a splintering pace, knowing that they had to make up time to contend with race leaders Eric Batty and Peter Glassford (Trek Canada). With the quickness of all four racers, and extreme conditions, it was a recipe for pain. “I have swamp water in my ear” laughed Zandstra, after diving through multiple bogs. Both teams suffered bike issues, but were able to battle through it. Peter and Eric fought hard to try and to stay on the wheels of the 3 Rox Racing crew. “It was hard, it was a stage that separated the men from the boy’s, if you’re going to get muddy then today was the day,” remarks Eric. In the end the day went to Derek and Tyson in the men’s tag team division.

In the Women’s Solo category Kate Aardal had another strong ride winning by over 35 minutes. The Men’s Solo 30 to 39 categories saw a close battle between first and third place. Iain Radford came out victorious with a 1 second advantage over Michael Dennis (speedriver.com) and 24 seconds ahead of Jason Everaert (Coach Chris.ca/Ted Velikonja).

Overall today was very tough mentally and physically, but with 2 days of racing behind the riders, they are excited to take on the last and final day of Crank the Shield and the always anticipated post-race feast at Camp White Pine of Stage 2.


Check out www.cranktheshield.com for full results.

Press release