07.18.07 - Prémont, Pendrel headline 2007 Tim Hortons Mountain Bike NationalsMontreal, July 18, 2007 (Sportcom)
– Mount Washington, B.C., on Vancouver Island is ready to host the 2007 Tim Hortons Mountain Bike Nationals July 19-22.Marie-Hélène Prémont, a three-time World Cup medallist this season, is the heavy favourite in the women’s cross country competition scheduled for Saturday. Her top challengers include Kiara Bisaro (B.C.,) and Catherine Pendrel of Kamloops. Pendrel, originally from Fredericton, won the cross country gold medal at the Pan Am Games this week.
‘’Marie-Hélène is a notch ahead of everybody but Kiara consistently provides strong performances. Catherine has had time to rest since the Pan Ams and she’ll be ready for nationals,’’ said Kris Westwood, the high performance program director for the Canadian Cycling Association.
In men’s competition, Geoff Kabush is the favorite. Seamus McGrath and Max Plaxton are his top challengers. All three riders are from B.C. ‘’Seamus can deliver strong performances and Max can keep close to other two, although his main focus is the under-23 title,’’ said Westwood. ‘’Mathieu Toulouse, sixth at the Pan Am Games, is another one to watch.’’In the women’s downhill, a new champion will be crowned with the absence of last year’s victor Michelle Dumaresq. On the men’s side, Tyler Morland seek to successfully defend his title.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
BC Super Week
Sarah (yellow) and Alena (2nd from right) along with teammate Jenny Trew.
It's been a very busy week. We are in the middle of BC Superweek - 9 races in just 7 days. Alena Radomsky (Giant Canada), Dan Skinner (Total Restoration) and Sarah Stewart (Symmetrics) are competing.
The week kicked off with the White Rock hill climb. It features a 1km climb that is steep and fast. Riders run this in heats - with the top 5 competitors competing in the final. Dan Skinner was the only Elitewave rider who really pushed this event finishing 22nd in the 64 rider field. Alena just rode up the climb in an effort to save her legs for the gruelling races to come. Sarah elected not to start due to a bit of sickness she has been struggling with lately. The Superweek events are an omnium style competition which means that riders can pick and choose their stages as they accumulate points. There is not total time as you might see in a traditional stage race such as the Tour de France.
Alena Radomsky leads the field.
On Saturday the Tour De White Rock Criterium was held. In the women's race, Alena was in full attack mode for her team. Her job was to force the pace early and to string the race out - forcing other teams to chase and to work harder than they would like. Early in the race a break formed with all of the heavy hitters, but it was brought back. A lone Jazz Apple rider, Rushlee Buchanan (NZl) finally managed to escape from the field. Despite the strong riders in the pack, none of the teams were willing to work together to bring her back. She soloed to victory by over half a lap. In the field sprint it was Shelley Olds (USA) PROMAN/Paradigm followed by the new National Road Champion Gina Grain (Can) Expresscopy.com and Sarah Stewart (Symmetrics).
Sarah with teammate Marnie Hambelton
Sunday featured Canada's toughest road race. The Tour de White Rock road race winds its way up and down the bluff above the beach in scenic White Rock. It's a race of attrition. Riders are fall off the pace on each lap and it comes down to being a good climber and being tough as nails. In the women's race, it looked as though the selection for the lead group would be made on the first lap with Leah Goldstein (Symmetrics) leading the charge and coming through the first half lap with a strung out group along with some significant gaps to the chasing riders. Luckily for the field, the leaders were brought back and the back entered into the second lap together. On the first big climb of the second lap, the winning break was formed with Goldstein in command of a group that included Buchanan, Shelley Old, Erin Willock and Allison Testerote (Expresscopy).
In the end, Goldstein (pictured above in the blue Israeli National Road Champs Jersey) was able to break free from this group of five and take an extremely well deserved win. The other girls from the break came in to the finish by themselves with the main field several minutes back and waiting for the final sprint. Gina Grain was the field sprint for 6th place.
In the men's race, it was an all Symmetrics affair with the team going 1,2,3 on the podium. The race was won by Will Routley - followed by Christian Meir and Cameron Evans. Only 23 riders out of the original 100 or so riders were able to complete the gruelling race.
Dan Skinner in the middle of the men's pro field.Saturday, July 14, 2007
PAN AMERICAN CHAMPION!!!!! KIKA WINS!!!
Elitewave's Catharine Pendrel (Norco) was successful in her bid to win a gold medal at the Pan American Championships in Brazil. This is the highest performance ever achieved by an Elitewave athlete. This performance will surely be a stepping stone to greater performances at the international level as we approach the Olympics in Bejing!!
2007 Pan American Games - Elite Women’s MTB XC Flash - Canada's Pendrel Wins GOLD!by http://www.pedalmag.com/
July 14, 2007 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) – Canada’s Catharine Pendrel from Kamloops, BC, has won the gold in the Elite Women’s MTB race at the 2007 Pan American Games today in Outeiro Hill - the first medal at the Games. Here are some quotes from Pendrel after her win courtesy of MPCcommunications:
"It feels great to be the first medal of the Games."(On the Brazil Canada tight race for 3rd place) - "Obviously I want Canada to win the most medals, but I wish Brazil luck in their endeavours because it's exciting to win medals in your own country."
"I really enjoyed the course. It was well constructed and had a little bit of everything to challenge the riders. I was leading the event from the second lap and was keeping a good pace. On the last lap, Mary McConneloug (USA) managed to overtake me, and I thought I would lose. I gave my best and recovered the lead on one of the last curves of the track."
Friday, July 13, 2007
Pan American Games MTB tomorrow!
Catharine Pendrel (Norco) will be going for gold at the Pan American Games tomorrow in Rio. She will face a very tough level of competition. Based on her recent results and dramatic improvements this year, she should be on track to be on the podium at this prestigious competition.
Since joining Dan's program 5 years ago, Catharine has represented Canada at the World Championships three times. She won the silver medal at the Pan American Mountain Bike championships last November. She is also a likely candidate for her fourth World Championship team this September.
This year has been Catharine's most precise year of training to date. The program has be calculated to address each particular physiological performance area required for success at the international level. Catharine has worked extremely hard and has been very dedicated to the training program. She has also benefitted from the immense level of support of her technical advisor, husband and best riding buddy Keith Wilson.
In the coming years, Catharine will most certainly advance to the top level of international competition in mountain biking. She has the right ingredients to be a top contender.
Catharine's greatest strength has been her ability to keep both feet on the ground. She is a down to earth person with a passion for riding. She trains hard, but uses good judegment and is seldom swayed by "what everyone else is doing". Since Catharine has begun this journey, the process has always been focused on longterm development. She has trained optimally - not maximally as so many athletes are apt to try and do. Her workouts have purpose and they fit well within an overall multi-year progression. She has been methodical and consistent in following her training plan and adding her own judgement and personality to the program. She isn't out there doing anything crazy - she has just followed a good program, and kept things fun, consistently over a period of several years. As a result, there are so many tricks left in the training tool bag that can be brought out to make Catharine improve even more over the coming years.
Also competing at the Pan American Games this week will be two other athletes who got their start in cycling in Dan's Junior Program at the Olympic Oval National Cycling Center. Ryan McKenzie and Cameron McKinnon will be competing at their first Pan American Games. Dan coached Ryan from his entry into the sport (and even before that as a swimmer with Cascade Swim Club when he was eight) to his first Junior World Track Championship competition. Dan also coached Cameron for the first four years of his cycling career - from the first day he came out to the track to his first taste of National level success as a junior.
Best of luck to Catharine, Ryan and Cam on their journey at the Pan American Games. You are on your way to even bigger things in the future.
Catharine's Blog
Interview with Catharine on Canadian Cyclist
Since joining Dan's program 5 years ago, Catharine has represented Canada at the World Championships three times. She won the silver medal at the Pan American Mountain Bike championships last November. She is also a likely candidate for her fourth World Championship team this September.
This year has been Catharine's most precise year of training to date. The program has be calculated to address each particular physiological performance area required for success at the international level. Catharine has worked extremely hard and has been very dedicated to the training program. She has also benefitted from the immense level of support of her technical advisor, husband and best riding buddy Keith Wilson.
In the coming years, Catharine will most certainly advance to the top level of international competition in mountain biking. She has the right ingredients to be a top contender.
Catharine's greatest strength has been her ability to keep both feet on the ground. She is a down to earth person with a passion for riding. She trains hard, but uses good judegment and is seldom swayed by "what everyone else is doing". Since Catharine has begun this journey, the process has always been focused on longterm development. She has trained optimally - not maximally as so many athletes are apt to try and do. Her workouts have purpose and they fit well within an overall multi-year progression. She has been methodical and consistent in following her training plan and adding her own judgement and personality to the program. She isn't out there doing anything crazy - she has just followed a good program, and kept things fun, consistently over a period of several years. As a result, there are so many tricks left in the training tool bag that can be brought out to make Catharine improve even more over the coming years.
Also competing at the Pan American Games this week will be two other athletes who got their start in cycling in Dan's Junior Program at the Olympic Oval National Cycling Center. Ryan McKenzie and Cameron McKinnon will be competing at their first Pan American Games. Dan coached Ryan from his entry into the sport (and even before that as a swimmer with Cascade Swim Club when he was eight) to his first Junior World Track Championship competition. Dan also coached Cameron for the first four years of his cycling career - from the first day he came out to the track to his first taste of National level success as a junior.
Best of luck to Catharine, Ryan and Cam on their journey at the Pan American Games. You are on your way to even bigger things in the future.
Catharine's Blog
Interview with Catharine on Canadian Cyclist
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Stewart Takes First Win
Sarah Stewart (Center) sprints to her first road win.
Sarah Stewart (Wedgewood) took her first ever road win this past weekend in Redmond, Washington during Derby Days. She took the lead with a hard attack on the final lap - going clear for the final 600m to take the win over Annette Hanson (First Rate Mortgage).
Redmond Derby Days, which celebrated its 67th anniversary on Saturday, is a summer tradition that came to life at the end of the Depression. It began as a drive to raise money for downtown holiday decorations and school athletic equipment. The Redmond Bicycle Derby was the outgrowth of a small town's community spirit and is now the nation's longest running bicycle race.
Road Nationals - Geoff MacDonald Report
Hi Dan,
I finished 10th in the TT. Felt good heart rate was around 184 for most of the race and got to 195 for the final 1 km. First time this year that I could get my hr to 180 mark. I missed a few places due to a mistake - when I thought the turn was two intersections sooner than it was. Lost a few seconds and a few places because of this.
In the Crit I followed your directions and actually led the race for the first two laps making the group work to chase me down. I then sat in for a while and took another break. With six laps to go I was on the break ... a good waysout when I took the turn too hot and pulled an Ullrich . I hit the ditch over the handle bars. Got back on the bike and headed up the hill where a buddy was yelling to tell me to take my lap... Oh yeah I thought... and did. Got back on and took off again but felt like a Reggie due to the free lap so thought the sporting thing to do would be to sit in for a lap. Did so. Two of my teamates( Jon and Dan Woods) are great sprinters and were both feeling good. Dan asked if I could get him up to a short breakaway and I said I thought I could. So at the bottom of the hill I punched it and got them 80 % of the way and then faded to the group. I finished middle of the pack with Dan getting 5th and Jon getting 7th.
Next morning feeling 80 %. Started coming around later. Our team had 3 guys in the Master A RR. Dan Jon and myself. Chris MacNeil (Hand R Block )and I set the pace at the front of the group of around 90 racers.We hit the hill pretty hard and then sat in for a while ( a great way to clear the legs I thought). Spent the first half of the race fighting for position in the peloton - between the front and back. Nothing was getting away so I sat in for a while.I chased down a few breakaways, MacNeil and I tried bridging to a break that looked to have two fast Ontario guys in it but the peloton would have nothing of us trying to get there. I was beginning to cramp around three laps to go. Was worried but had some accelerade and enervit pills and told myself that I wouldn't get dropped.
In the last lap I got in the front leading through town to make sure that I hit the hill in the front of the group. It hurt but I was still in the front of the bunch by the top. I knew I could do some damage if I could hang on at that point.
On the long downhill I felt strong and many were hurting. I got to the front and saw Dan Wood but couldn't find Jon ( my two teammates). It was raining hard and the pavement was sketchy. Guys were yelling braking and freaking out. I thought I should get the hell out of the group. I attacked. As I'm going by Dan he's yelling at me "Go Geoff get out front " he said it two or three times. I got a gap with two other guys. We were flying. I looked ahead and saw another ERTC jersey and said "shit" there's Jon. I had to sit up. I would've pulled two strong guys up. We left the headsets for our radios at the hotel so couldn't communicate well during the race. Bummer, but the right thing to do. Good news ...Jon won. He got the jersey and we all celebrated...HARD.
Good news is that the Peak and training worked. I felt stronger than most in all days. Just some bad prep on the TT and some stong teamates made me makesome unselfish decisions. Time to start preparing for Provincials. I'll start training Thursday.
Thanks Dan.
I finished 10th in the TT. Felt good heart rate was around 184 for most of the race and got to 195 for the final 1 km. First time this year that I could get my hr to 180 mark. I missed a few places due to a mistake - when I thought the turn was two intersections sooner than it was. Lost a few seconds and a few places because of this.
In the Crit I followed your directions and actually led the race for the first two laps making the group work to chase me down. I then sat in for a while and took another break. With six laps to go I was on the break ... a good waysout when I took the turn too hot and pulled an Ullrich . I hit the ditch over the handle bars. Got back on the bike and headed up the hill where a buddy was yelling to tell me to take my lap... Oh yeah I thought... and did. Got back on and took off again but felt like a Reggie due to the free lap so thought the sporting thing to do would be to sit in for a lap. Did so. Two of my teamates( Jon and Dan Woods) are great sprinters and were both feeling good. Dan asked if I could get him up to a short breakaway and I said I thought I could. So at the bottom of the hill I punched it and got them 80 % of the way and then faded to the group. I finished middle of the pack with Dan getting 5th and Jon getting 7th.
Next morning feeling 80 %. Started coming around later. Our team had 3 guys in the Master A RR. Dan Jon and myself. Chris MacNeil (Hand R Block )and I set the pace at the front of the group of around 90 racers.We hit the hill pretty hard and then sat in for a while ( a great way to clear the legs I thought). Spent the first half of the race fighting for position in the peloton - between the front and back. Nothing was getting away so I sat in for a while.I chased down a few breakaways, MacNeil and I tried bridging to a break that looked to have two fast Ontario guys in it but the peloton would have nothing of us trying to get there. I was beginning to cramp around three laps to go. Was worried but had some accelerade and enervit pills and told myself that I wouldn't get dropped.
In the last lap I got in the front leading through town to make sure that I hit the hill in the front of the group. It hurt but I was still in the front of the bunch by the top. I knew I could do some damage if I could hang on at that point.
On the long downhill I felt strong and many were hurting. I got to the front and saw Dan Wood but couldn't find Jon ( my two teammates). It was raining hard and the pavement was sketchy. Guys were yelling braking and freaking out. I thought I should get the hell out of the group. I attacked. As I'm going by Dan he's yelling at me "Go Geoff get out front " he said it two or three times. I got a gap with two other guys. We were flying. I looked ahead and saw another ERTC jersey and said "shit" there's Jon. I had to sit up. I would've pulled two strong guys up. We left the headsets for our radios at the hotel so couldn't communicate well during the race. Bummer, but the right thing to do. Good news ...Jon won. He got the jersey and we all celebrated...HARD.
Good news is that the Peak and training worked. I felt stronger than most in all days. Just some bad prep on the TT and some stong teamates made me makesome unselfish decisions. Time to start preparing for Provincials. I'll start training Thursday.
Thanks Dan.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Yaletown Criterium
Start of Women's Elite Criterium Elitewave riders took to the streets of Yaletown in Vancouver over the weekend. Alena Radomsky (Team Giant), Dan Skinner (Total Restoration) and Sarah Stewart (Symmetrics) were all part of the action.
Elitewave sponsor, Stephen Kim of the Bike Gallery waits for the racing to begin. The event was held in the yuppy surroundings of Yaletown and featured a tight chicane turn that dealt it's fair share of good crashes. Prior to the Women's Elite Race, the course hosted a cruiser race in celebration of Canada Day and the conclusion of Bike month. The lady pictured below was one of the racers in the cruiser event. The dress was the actual one she wore to her high school graduation.
Cruiser Bike Race at Yaletown
The Winning Break (Trew at front, Stewart, Guloin, Howard, Grain, Hambleton)Sarah Stewart was active throughout the race for her new team - Symmetrics. Her job was to stay with Marnie to the finish and to launch a big attack with two laps to go. She was successful in both of these tasks and also helped to keep control of the race when Leah Guloin put in a threatening surge with 3 laps to go. If Leah had gotten away, the race would have been over for the sprinters.
Stewart leads Jenny Trew and Gina Grain into the chicane. Photo by Mac MacDell.Alena Radomsky was in the second half of the split and was forced to play a tactical role for her Giant teammates. Unable to attack until the break was not in danger of being caught, she rode in the second group without having to put in much effort. When her team manager finally gave her the word over the race radio, she was off and put in a huge solo effort for the last six laps of the race - finishing 7th overall.
Lisa Tasa (Trek) and Alena Radomsky (Giant) try to escape the second group.
In the Elite Men's race it was an all Symmetrics show with Continental Champion Svein Tuft and Andrew Pinfold lapping everyone to take the win. Pinfold nudged out Tuft at the line to take the event.
Tuft and Pinfold hit hyperspace.
Peter Reid (2nd) and Dan Skinner (4th)
Dan Skinner and Sarah Stewart Hanging After the Race.
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