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Dragon Boat races return to Rainbow

Canada Day toonie ride heads to interpretive trails Chromag Bikes and North Shore Billet are hosting the Canada Day toonie ride tonight (July 1), with a selection of trails in the Interpretive Forest.

Canada Day toonie ride heads to interpretive trails

Chromag Bikes and North Shore Billet are hosting the Canada Day toonie ride tonight (July 1), with a selection of trails in the Interpretive Forest.

Sign-on and the after-party are at Chromag headquarters in Function Junction, with food by Deep Powder Catering and DJ Selechtah-Russ providing the music.

The post-race event is the now annual Chromag Show and Shine, where Chromag hardtail riders show off their custom rigs in a bid to win Best In Show awards. Registration cards will be available at sign-on.

The July 8 Toonie Ride is also the first stage of the Four Queens race. Hosted by Slope Side Supply, the race is a time trial on the West Side, with registration at the top of Cardiac Hill (opposite Nita Lake employee housing) and the finish at the Gravel Pit.

The course includes Lower Sproatt, Beaver Lake, Danimal North, Whip Me Snip Me, Flank, Rebob, Get Over It and a chunk of the Emerald Forest.

Registration gets underway at 5:30 p.m. and the races at 6:30 p.m.

 

Volunteers invited to WORCA trail day

On Saturday, July 3 WORCA will be hosting it's fifth volunteer trail day of the season. Meet at the Lost Lake Lodge (entrance to Lost Lake) at 9 a.m. and come prepared to work three or four hours in the woods. That means proper clothing and footwear, bug spray, suntan lotion, water and snack, sturdy gloves and whatever tools you have that you feel might be useful.

This event is being sponsored by Dirt Series Camps, which is providing food and post-grunt refreshments.

 

Four Queens seeking vollees

The four-day Four Queens mountain bike stage race is approaching quickly, taking place from July 8 to 11 in Whistler and Pemberton.

The first day follows the Slope Side Supply Toonie Ride course on July 8, which is a time trial event. The second day is a top-to-bottom race from the Garbanzo Zone to the village in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Saturday, day three, is a two-part ride featuring a morning race through the no-flow zone surrounding Emerald Estates and an afternoon time trial on PHD in the Rutherford area north of Whistler. The fourth and final day is a technical, long distance race around Pemberton.

Race director Tony Horn is seeking additional volunteers to help out with the event, especially during Friday's race through the bike park. A volunteer shift is from 3:30 p.m. to roughly 7 p.m., as all 120 riders make the descent.

The race organizers are also looking for people to help out on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the No Flow Zone.

If you can volunteer a few hours email race@worca.com.

 

Local runners take on Scorched Sole ultra

Last weekend a group of local runners headed to Kelowna for the annual Scorched Sole ultra race, which takes place on a challenging course up Little White mountain and back down again. The race has more vertical than climbing to the peak of Whistler Mountain, and took runners above the snow line at one point.

In the 50 km category local runner Mark Schmidt placed ninth overall and first in the men's 20 to 29 category in 5:17:11.

Sisters Erin and Carolyn Donnelly ran together and placed second and third in the female 20 to 29 race with matching times of 5:46:56.

 

Baker rolls through Seattle

Over 27,000 runners took part in the Rock'n'Roll Seattle Marathon and Half Marathon last Sunday, including Whistler's Brenda Baker. She placed 152 nd overall out of 17,600 finishers and was the 35 th female to the finish line. She easily won the women's 55 to 59 age category with her chip time of 1:30:44, but was also the fourth Master (over 40), and would have won the 45 to 49 and 50 to 54 age groups as well. The race also applied age grades, a handicap system that takes age into account, in which case Baker was the second female overall.

 

Suter solid at Coeur D'Alene Ironman

Whistler's Christine Suter placed 24 th out of 118 athletes in the women's 40 to 44 age category at the Coeur D'Alene Ironman in Idaho Sunday, June 27. The race included a 3.8 kilometre swim, a 180 km bike and a 42.2 km run.

Suter had a fast swim and was in the top 10 per cent out of the water in 1:08:36. She followed that with a sub-six hour bike time of 5:58:39. She struggled in the run, which she finished in 5:00:24.

This year eight Whistler residents are signed up for Ironman Canada, including John Blok, Taralyn Day, Mike Edwards, Fero Piliar, Waine Nicole, Warren Warner, Stephen Wheeler and Gillian Woodward. Squamish racers are Derek Gagne, Audrie Gilson, Kevin Graham, Peter Henderson, Timothy Moore, Daniel Stiner and Kathy Wolfe.

Squamish adventure racer ?? is also weighing a recent injury against taking part in Ultraman Canada at the end of the summer, which is more than double a regular Ironman with a 10 km swim, a 418.3 km bike and an 84.3 km run.

 

Rowers Regatta

 

 

Ride to Conquer Cancer

 

Athletes tackle Solstice Trail marathon

 

A handful of locals took part in the annual Summer Solstice Marathon on June 20, which is part of the Run the North Shore series. The race started near the Cleveland Dam and climbed up Grouse Mountain and through the ski area before descending to the Lynn Headwater Area and the Baden Powell Trail. The distance was 42.2 km, the same as a regular marathon, although the times were much slower.

Adam Cambell, who won last year's Comfortably Numb race, finished the course in 3:42:23 to rank first overall.

Scott Brammer of Whistler was 25 th overall and eighth in his age group in 6:42:38. Tess Geddes was 30 th overall and second in her age group in 7:35:40. Shannon MacLeod of Squamish was 21 st overall and fifth in her age group in 6:18:42.

 

Buchar seventh again at Leogang

The World Cup downhill series headed to Austria last weekend for a very tough and technical race at Leogang.

Whistler's Clare Buchar was consistent once again, placing seventh in her third consecutive race. She also ranks seventh on the World Cup.

Micayla Gatto from the North Shore was 10 th .

Sabrina Jonnier of France took the win and the series lead from Rachel Atherton, who crashed on her final lap and wasn't able to finish.

On the men's side Greg Minnaar of South Africa took the win and the series lead, followed by Gee Atherton and Aaron Gwin of the U.S. The top Canadian was Nanaimo's Steve Smith in 11 th .

 

Routley solid in Tour de Beauce

Whistler's Will Routley had a solid ride at Quebec's Tour de Beauce in mid-June, one of North America's premier road events and the highest ranked event in Canada the UCI.

Routley competed for Team Canada, which had its hands full with top international road teams in the mix, including Fly V Australia, United Healthcare and others. Aussie racer Ben Day became the only rider other than Levi Leipheimer to win this event twice in its 24-year history.

Routley built momentum through the race and place third on the final day by a matter of inches. He placed 13 th in the general classification - just three minutes, 22 seconds behind Day.

Team Canada itself finished a lowly 14 th , and Routley was the top member of his team to finish all six stages. Routley was pretty much on his own through the later stages, while other teams used tactics to maintain their lead in a race that was close through the final day.

 

Gym club booking summer camps

The Whistler Gymnastics Club still has spaces available in its summer camp programs.

Classes include Active Start Camps (born 2004 to 2008) from July 12 to 16 and Aug. 3 to 6; trampoline camps (aged 7 to 12) from July 19 to 23 and Aug. 9 to 13; competitive camps from July 19 to 23 and Aug. 9 to 13, and Gymnastics For All recreational camps from Aug. 9 to 13. Registration is online at www.whistlergymnastics.com.

 

S2S Junior Gold Championship returns

Local golf courses have collaborated to bring the Sea to Sky Junior Golf Championships back for a third year, open to young golfers aged 10 to 18.

This year there will be a two-ball scramble tournament on Friday, July 2 at 2 p.m. at the Chateau Whistler Golf Club that is not related to the championship, but will be held as a warm-up.

The Championships is a 54-hole stroke play competition with 18 holes at Big Sky Golf Club on July 26, 18 holes at Nicklaus North Golf Course on July 27 and 18 holes at Squamish Valley Golf Club on July 28.

The field size is limited so early registration is recommended.

The cost is $100 for the championship or $120, which includes the scramble event at the Chateau. That includes green fees, food and drink at the halfway point, dinner after the round and a chance to win prizes. There will be awards for the top three gross scores, the top three in each age group and the lowest net score in each age group.

For more information or an entry form send a request to apolo@shaw.ca.

 

Bike Park Contest winner from India

India and mountain biking are seldom mentioned in the same sentence, but Vinay Menon is looking to change all that.

Last week Menon was declared the winner of Bike Park B.C.'s Ultimate Summer of Freeride contest, out of over 140 blog and photo entries.

Menon is reportedly already organizing his visa to Canada, where he will get a chance to ride at Whistler Mountain Bike Park, Silver Star Bike Park, Sun Peaks Resort, Fernie Alpine Resort and Mount Washington Bike Park. He will get two lift tickets and two nights of accommodation at each stop, as well as bike rentals and half a day of expert guiding, as well as $1,000.

Details on the contest are posted at www.bikeparksbc.com.