Bronze for Sarah at Cyclocross Nationals

Pepper, Wendy and Sarah share the National Championship podium.

Melanie leads out fellow Elitewave athletes Jaymie McGowan and Christy Love

A year spent working on starts finally paid off for Sarah who earned a Bronze medal at the National Cyclocross Championships in Edmonton over the weekend. Sarah established herself in third place within the first 200m of the race and held on to this position to the end. The field included cyclocross legend Wendy Simms (Kona) and a strong field of proven cyclocross experts - among them Pepper Harelton (Juventus) who finished in second place. Both Pepper and Sarah made huge improvements this year as they were both fighting for 7th and 8th position at the 2007 championships. While Sarah competed mainly on the road to earn her improvements, Pepper went the mountain bike route - even completing the Bow 80 on her cross bike (80km in the Mountains!!). On the third lap of the race, Sarah hit a course marker hard with her hand. She was able to finish but immediately lost all strength in her hand when she crossed the finish line. Xrays would later reveal a fracture of the 4th metacarpal. (Sarah is now back on the trainer and using a set of aero-bars on her cross bike so that she can ride and keep her hand slightly elevated). Sarah hopes to be back in action for the USGP cross races in Portland this December.

Melanie Vaughan and Jaymie McGowan made huge improvements in their performance this year. Melanie, in particular, became a factor in the elite women's race - starting the second day of competition with a world class start that immediately put her into the top of the field. Jaymie rode well and improved on her performance from last year. She was battling a cold all weekend, so it wasn't quite her best, but she showed that her dedication to training is paying off. Christy Love, who has had a very demanding schedule of late showed perseverence and class by putting in a strong effort on both days of racing.


In the Junior Races, we brought the Cycling BC boys up to Edmonton to do some damage. Evan Guthrie won the Junior Men's National Championships and Kevin Thorpe won the Silver Medal. On the second day of racing at Jim Horner, we created a team strategy that saw a third BC rider, Sebastian Sleep, climb onto the podium - hatrick!

Total Restoration's Evan Guthrie sporting the new National Champs Jersey.

See Evan's Full Report HERE