The Enduro World Series wrapped with Crankworx stars holding the overall advantage.
Both the men's and women's winners of the SRAM Canadian Open Enduro, held here in August, emerged as the points leaders following the season-capping Superenduro in Finale Ligure, Italy on Oct. 3 and 4.
American Richie Rude took top spot with 2,940 points, which was 270 up on runner-up Fabien Barel and 310 ahead of Jerome Clementz.
French rider Yoann Barelli, who now lives in Whistler, ended the season in ninth-place with 2,130 points, while Australian Josh Carlson, who often trains in the Sea to Sky, was 12th with 1,905 points.
Whistler product Jesse Melamed, who missed two races because of injury, ended the season in 31st with 890 points to wrap the local contribution to the top 50.
As for the women, Great Britain's Tracy Moseley capped a storybook season in which she won six of seven races — and placed second in the other. Moseley completed the season with a total of 2,750 points to put her 390 up on runner-up Cecile Ravanel and 720 ahead of third-place rider Anneke Beerten.
Competing on shortened schedules, three local riders finished mere points away from each other. Sarah Leishman was 28th, while Georgia Astle and Katrina Strand were 30th and 31st, respectively.
As for the final race of the season itself, Australian Jared Graves took the win on the men's side with a time of 35 minutes and 42 seconds (35:42:00), edging out Barel and Nicolas Vouilloz by 1.49 and 1.56 seconds, respectively.
Locally connected riders had strong showings with Carlson placing 12th while Barelli ended up in 14th. Melamed, in his second race back from injury, notched a 69th-place finish. Australian Dylan Wolsky, who now lives in Whistler, placed 79th.
As for the women, Moseley dominated the field, beating Ravanel by over 12 seconds with a time of 40:50.38. Ines Thoma was third.
As for the locals, Astle placed 23rd in her second EWS race of the season.
Mitchell hired by Whistler Sport Legacies
Whistler Sport Legacies (WSL) has a new leader to help coaches develop.
Tami Mitchell, formerly the program director with Whistler Gymnastics, started with WSL as its sport development manager on Oct. 5.
In a release, the organization explained Mitchell would strive to go beyond WSL's anchor sports of Nordic skiing and sliding to create a strong sport system in the Sea to Sky corridor. The scope of her role will range from the community to high-performance levels.
Mitchell, a competitor at the BC Winter Games in 1990, initially moved to Whistler in 1999 to coach gymnastics, aerobics, dance and skiing and serving Whistler Gymnastics in various capacities, including as head coach.
Whistler Gymnastics enjoys new harness
Young athletes at Oros Whistler Gymnastics are taking flight thanks to two new bungee harnesses.
The club has been hoping to add the apparatus since it moved into its space in the Whistler Athletes' Centre five years ago. Some of the club's higher-end athletes previously made trips to Vancouver to use equipment like it.
The bungee harnesses were made possible thanks to a $10,000 donation from Vancouver businessman and Whistler homeowner Jack Gin through the Jack Gin Foundation. Gin and his family have been coming to Whistler since the 1970s and in a release, he said he wanted to give back to his second home.
Whistler Gymnastics coach Karin Jarratt said she's excited to see what athletes can accomplish now they they'll have greater access to the equipment.
"It's a safe, fun way to learn a lot of twisting and inverted skills that athletes perform in competition, or that some athletes will one day perform on the snow," she said in a release. "We want all of our athletes to progress and reach their full potential, and this is a great coaching tool to help them along."
Local freestyle skier Simon d'Artois, who trains at the centre, will appreciate the new harness as well upon his return from New Zealand.
"The new spotting harness and bungee system is a great way to progress new tricks in a safe and fun environment. It gives athletes one more step in the progression of learning their tricks and gives them confidence before they performed their tricks for the first time. And it's just plain fun to get more airtime," he noted in the release.
Other user groups that will have access to the bungee harness include the Whistler Blackcomb Freestyle Club, the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, the Canadian Ski Cross Team, Vancouver Circus Schools, and National Coaching Certification Program courses.
Squash club offering free kids' programming
Kids can try out a new sport for the next two Thursdays.
The Whistler Squash Club is hosting free sessions for kids aged eight through 13 at the Meadow Park Sports Centre from 4 to 4:45 p.m. on Oct. 8 and Oct. 15.
Those looking to sign up can do so by emailing rob@skowtz.com. Each session can accommodate up to 12 kids.
Kids must bring their own indoor court shoes, T-shirt and shorts, though racquets will be provided.
Those who take a liking to the sport can sign up for the club's fall programming, which gets underway shortly.
