August 12/12 21:36 pm - Ontario Cup XC #6 - Buckwallow report and results

Posted by Editoress on 08/12/12
 

Steady rain on Friday and Saturday gave way to a cloudy but dry race day at the Buckwallow Cycling Centre north of Gravenhurst, just in time for the penultimate round of the 2012 Plastiglas Ontario Cup mountain bike race series.  The technically demanding but relatively flat course was in good condition, although there were some muddy spots that riders had to contend with. Mikaela Kofman (Scott - 3 Rox Racing) dominated the elite women's field to win her third consecutive O-Cup, while Andrew Watson (Norco Factory Team) came from behind to take his first win of the season.

Elite/U23 Women

Kofman, Caley Brooks (Trek Canada) and Haley Smith (Norco Evolution) were at the head of affairs as the compact field rolled along the opening double track.

Halfway through the first lap, following the most difficult sections of singletrack, Kofman had a 20-second lead over a chase group consisting of  Brooks, Smith, Rhonda Stickle (Erace Cancer Cycling Team) and Heather Gray (Cycle Solutions/Angry Johnny’s CC).

Brooks managed to break free of the chase group, but was unable to close the gap to Kofman.  A determined effort by Gray saw her work her way back to Brooks, but Stickle and Smith were unable to maintain the pace.

Kofman’s lead grew steadily during the course of the race, and she cruised home with a solid three-minute gap over Brooks, who succeeded in dropping Gray to secure second place and maintain her position as overall series leader.

“It felt pretty good,” said Kofman of her race-winning effort. “It was kind of muddy and slick so it didn't feel super fast but my body felt pretty good.  I haven't raced in a couple of weeks so it was kind of a jump to get back to the 3-2-1-go kind of thing”.

Elite/U23 Men

A field of three dozen got off to a clean start, with a lead group of Ryan Atkins (Muskoka CC), Mitchell Bailey (Trek Canada), Peter Glassford (Trek Canada), Marc-Antoine Nadon (Scott – 3 Rox Racing) and Tyson Wagler (Scott – 3 Rox Racing) forming early on in the first lap.  Chasing them was the trio of Steven Noble (Opus/OGC), Davis Ross (Mountainview CC) and Watson.  “I got boxed out lining up,” said Watson post-race.  “It's a really narrow start here and I don't have a call-up for the O-Cups because I haven't done a lot of them so that was totally unplanned to be that far back after the first lap.  I had to do a pretty good effort to get up to the lead group.”

Heading into lap two Atkins continued to set the pace for the leaders, despite the two pairs of teammates on his wheel, while Watson was bridging the gap, having dropped Ross and Noble.  He managed to make contact before the halfway point of the lap, and pushed on with Atkins and Glassford, with Bailey, Nadon and Wagler close behind.

The two groups merged during the initial part of the third lap, but soon after Watson opened a 25-second lead over Atkins and Glassford. Trying to stay in touch were Bailey and Wagler, but Nadon was losing contact.

By the fourth lap Watson had extended his lead to 40 seconds.  Atkins and Glassford were still together, but Wagler had dropped Bailey.

The final lap saw Watson continue his effort and eke out an extra 10 seconds, while Glassford was able to put daylight between himself and Atkins to take the second step on the podium.

Despite the scarcity of climbing, Watson found the course a challenging one. “For me the lack of hills actually made it tougher.  Usually the flat, power stuff is where I struggle a little bit.  I like courses with nice, big climbs in them, so I think it was a tough course.  The technical riding here really keeps you on your toes.  You can't make too many mistakes. With the rain it really made some of the rocky sections tricky.  It was a tough course.”

“I'm feeling really good right now,” he added.  “The power numbers are starting to come back up to where they were a couple of years ago, and I'm definitely feeling healthy again. The break in the racing has really helped.  I've been able to get some good miles in and some good races at home, so everything's going pretty good right now.  Just looking forward to finishing off the season and starting into 'cross.”

Race Notes

~ Despite not receiving any funding from Cycling Canada, a number of Ontario mountain bikers are traveling to Austria in September to participate in the world championships. Chico Racing is donating money to each of those athletes to help with the expense of the trip.

~ A rider in the 10am race crashed into a tree and was taken off the course in a stretcher, before being transferred to hospital.  Thankfully he was back to the race site later in the day, moving under his own power, albeit gingerly.

~ Although he is of junior age, Marc-Antoine Nadon has moved up to the elite/u23 category. "I'm just out here to have fun and race a more aggressive race and get the experience of racing in a pack.  That and the challenge.  In junior we have some good competition but my coach Kyle Douglas and I had a talk and we thought that the advantages were better and I had the points to do it, so I just ended up racing elite.  You have to race much more conservatively.  The first two laps today I was up there with the lead pack but on the third lap I started to think, I've got an extra lap to go so I kind of toned it down a bit, but the fifth lap definitely has a big effect on you compared to just racing four laps.”

~ Ryan Atkins won the Tread trail-running race yesterday, also held at Buckwallow.
 
~ The next and final O-Cup race is the provincial championships, September 9th at Highlands Nordic near Duntroon.

Report by Emil van Dijk

Results