Emilly Johnston (Scott SRAM) and Carter Woods (Giant Factory Racing) were crowned the Elite XCO national champions on Saturday at the Jordie Lunn Bike Park in Langford, BC. Both are Vancouver Island riders, making for home wins in each category.
Held at the Jordie Lunn Bike Park for the second consecutive year, the course was changed significantly, with a longer climb and more technical sections, making for a punishing circuit that saw many riders struggle.
Women
Johnston, who has faced disappointment on the World Cup circuit this season, as she comes back from a pre-season broken elbow, was expected to face stiff competition from Ella MacPhee (Wilier Vittoria), who was riding up from Under-23 and has had multiple podium appearances this season on the World Cup circuit. Missing from the race was defending champion Jenn Jackson (Orbea Fox), who is recovering from a serious leg injury.
Johnston and MacPhee broke away early, and then Johnston opened a small gap near the end of the first lap. The gap continued to grow through the remainder of the race, eventually reaching over three and a half minutes. Anne Marie Gauthier (CC Mont-Sainte-Anne) took third, over 15 minutes down. Indeed, third and fourth barely missed being pulled for the 80% time cutoff.
In the Under-23 race, it quickly became a two rider race - Rafaelle Carrier (Trinity Racing) vs Marin Lowe (Liv Factory). The pair rode together for the entire race, before sprinting at the finish, with Carrier winning by half a bike length. Nico Knoll (Steve Tilford Foundation) took third. In the Junior women, Eliane Blais (Pittstop Racing Team) rode away to a convincing victory ahead of Alexa Haviland (Team Ontario/Shredders), with another favourite, Elly Moore absent due to a crash in training). Hannah Lehmann (Team Ontario/Collingwood Collective) led a Team Ontarion sweep in the Under-17 women.
Men
The elite men's race was one of attrition; by the end of the first lap there were six riders at the front, a lap later it was five, and then another lap down to a core of four - Woods, defending champion Cole Punchard (Cannondale Factory), Owen Clark (Pivot OTE) and Logan Sandusky (Blue Bridge). They stayed together until a lap and a half to go, when Woods attacked on the long climb, quickly opening a 20-plus second gap, that grew to nearly 40 seconds by the start of the last lap. He continued to extend his lead to over a minute before a crash convinced him to ride more conservatively to the finish line. Punchard attacked the other chasers to take silver, 19 seconds back, with Owen Clark taking bronze.
The Under-23 race saw a pair of Pivot OTE riders take a small lead on the first lap - Ian Ackert, the defending champion, and Maxime St Onge. However, Mika Comaniuk (Pittstop Racing), the current cyclo-cross national champion, began moving up, joining Ackert at the front by the start of the third lap. He then attacked with a lap to go, to take his first national mountain bike title. In the Junior men, the largest field of the day, the race quickly came down to two riders - Ethan Wood (Team Charge XC) and Emilien Belzile (Pittstop Racing), the XCC champion. Wood attacked with a little over a lap remaining rode away to win by nearly a minute. Joshua Tyers (Team Ontario / Hot Tubes Development) took the Under-17 men's title by 21 seconds, with Mathis Malois (Club cycliste de l'Académie) outsprinting James Pinfold (Devo) for second.
