While New Brunswick produces plenty of potatoes, the province isn't well-known for its Olympic athletes.
Enlarge Photo But a farm near Harvey Station sprouted Catharine Pendrel, one of just two Canadian women competing at the Beijing Olympics in mountain biking.
It's cliché to say "they grow 'em big on the farm," but in Pendrel's case, it wouldn't apply anyway.
At five-foot-five and 109 pounds, her coach Dan Proulx says she's a small package of power that just keeps getting better at her sport.
"She's tiny and she's absolutely a powerhouse," says Proulx. "She's all racer, just built for climbing."
The two first crossed paths in 2002 when Pendrel moved to study at the University of Victoria. She joined the triathlon club as a way to meet people, and ended up meeting both Proulx, and her husband Keith Wilson, who she married in December, 2006.
But Proulx hasn't always thought so highly of Pendrel's ability.
"I was starting a pro women's cycling team and had to pick a sixth rider. I had a choice between two girls on the triathlon team and Catharine just wasn't strong enough so I couldn't pick her," laughs Proulx. "She went from not being strong enough to make that squad to one of the best in the world. Obviously, she had the genetics the whole time and just needed some help to bring that out."
The 27-year-old's athletic bloodline includes grandfather John Pendrel and his brothers Fred and Roy, who were champion speedskaters in Ontario in the 1920s.
Her first major influence in cycling was her older brother Geoff, who gave her an old bike back in high school. Geoff, now a world-class downhill racer, encouraged her to try a race in the New Brunswick Cup series.
"It was a lot of fun," Catharine Pendrel recalls. "People were really great, everybody's camping out of the back of their car, road trips every weekend. "¦"‰Then I realized once I actually started to get good at it, it was fun on a competitive level as well."
Pendrel has been riding for a long time, just not necessarily a bike. She grew up around horses on the farm in Smithfield Settlement and in her younger years, equestrian was her sport of choice.
"As a baby she would sit on the back of a pony," says her father, Bruce Pendrel. "I think without even realizing it she was quite athletic, and the other thing about equestrian is, there's a lot of discipline. You spend 10 times the amount of time taking care of the horse as riding it and having fun."
After changing from hoofs to wheels, Catharine went from the New Brunswick Cup to the 2001 Canada Games in London, Ont., where she finished sixth. But she really didn't get serious about training until she met Proulx.
"When I was in New Brunswick I just rode for fun and did what I thought I had to do," said Pendrel, who now lives in Kamloops, B.C., where the trails are plentiful and her husband teaches high school math.
Proulx introduced her to much more scientific methods, from working on technical mountain bike skills to long-distance endurance rides to interval training, which consists of intense bursts followed by periods of rest. She cracked the national team in 2004, and has continued to squeeze her tiny frame onto an ever-shrinking squad: there were seven Canadian women at the 2004 world championships, compared to just two at this year's Olympics.
Pendrel, a member of the Luna professional team, is ranked eighth in the World Cup standings, and she finished second in a World Cup event in Mont-Ste-Anne, Que. last month. She was behind only Canadian teammate Marie-Helene Premont, who won a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Pendrel competes on Aug. 22, and won't be heading to China until Aug. 17, skipping the Opening Ceremonies to limit exposure to heat and pollution. She has been working with a physiologist to develop strategies to manage the intense heat during the two-hour race. The team will also have anti-pollution masks available at the Games, although Pendrel doesn't think she'll use one during competition.
She's shooting for a top-five finish, which Proulx says is realistic.
"Every year she's improved at least one big step, from being competitive in Canada Cups a few short years ago, to competing at nationals and world championships. Olympics are the next thing," says Proulx. "She's going to be a top-five, top-six competitor and (if she goes on to the 2012 Olympics in London), she'll be in the medals for sure."
Her husband and parents will be in Beijing, along with Adrian Gill, a cousin who lives in England. Her mother says, if she sets a goal, she'll figure out a way to reach it.
"This is a girl who was brought up in Harvey Station, a community of (350). We live on a farm. And she's been able - through determination and a lot of support - to go all the way to the Olympics," says Bertin. "It's really motivating for kids who think the Olympics are just a dream that's totally unattainable."
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