April 15/98 11:42 am - Help Wanted, Burnt Bridge Story

Posted by Editor on 04/15/98
 

Position Available

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - ONTARIO CYCLING ASSOCIATION

To make Ontario's cycling environment safe, fair, and accessible for all

Membership organization, run by a volunteer board, seeks professional to provide strong administrative leadership. Skills and experience will address responsibility for effective member services, staff and volunteer management, business planning, including consultation, budgeting and policy development, communications and information management, revenue generation and financial management.

Send resume in confidence to the Selection Committee by May 7, 1998, at:

The OCA
1185 Eglinton Ave. E., Ste. 408
North York ON M3C 3C6

Only candidates to be interviewed will be contacted. Thanks to all applicants in advance.


Burnt Bridge Classic - The Story

Canada's mountain bike season officially kicked off on Easter weekend, with the running of the Burnt Bridge Classic on Vancouver Island. Nearly 800 riders turned out for the cross-country and downhill events, and this year participants had the opportunity to measure themselves against some of Canada's top pros. The pro riders included Andreas Hestler (Volvo-Cannondale), the eventual men's winner; Roland Green (Kona Mapei); Chris Sheppard (Catera-Pure Energy) and Melanie McQuaid (Rocky Mountain), the women's champion. These riders were getting ready to head to Europe for the World Cup, and looking for a good training race.

In the men's 50 kilometre race, Hestler, Green, Sheppard and national `cross champion Peter Wedge (Kona) quickly opened a gap on the rest of the field, with Green setting the pace. However, the Kona rider hesitated fatally before the singletrack, allowing Hestler to jump in front. The Volvo-Cannondale rider never looked back, steadily increasing his lead throughout the race to finish 2:17 in front of Green. In third place was a very pleased Geoff Kabush (Kona Factory), recording one of his best results ever at this level of competition. Wedge had been in third until the start of the last lap, when he climbed off his bike, still suffering the effects of a cold. Kabush had been working his way steadily up to the front, catching Sheppard some 6 kilometres from the end of the race.

In the women's competition, local rider Trish Sinclair (Kona) was the pace setter, stretching out the field for the first lap of the 37 kilometre race. However, on one of the fire road sections, she was boxed in by Melanie Dorion (Oryx) and Christine Platt (Schwinn) when McQuaid attacked. Neither of the other riders were able to respond, and by the time Sinclair had extricated herself, McQuaid was gone for good. Sinclair finished second, at 2:36, with Platt 3rd (3:53). In the Junior Expert race, it was the phenomenal Ryder Hesjedal (Kona Factory), nearly 9 minutes in front of the next rider - Dylan Tremblay (Rocky Mountain). How good is this Junior? Well, starting some 2 minutes behind the pro men, he managed to catch all but the first 4 before his race ended. Other riders should be watching over their shoulders for next year when Ryder enters the Senior ranks.

Day 2 was the downhill; a technical singletrack course, that the top men were cleaning in about a minute and a half. The event was run on a 'best of 2 runs' format, with the slippery, muddy conditions adding to the difficulty. The field for this event was restricted to the west coast crowd, but that included women's national champion Daamiann Skelton (Rocky Mountain), and men's pro David Watson (Powerbar/Airwalk). Skelton easily took the women's race, with a best run of 1:35.89, while Junior racer Dustin Adams (Sunn/Troy Lee/Time) scorched the men's field with a run of 1:20.02. Duane Nickull (Norco Factory) finished second to Adams with a time of 1:21.66. Favoured Watson crashed on his second run, dropping him to 8th place.