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Kyle, Tomlinson take Test of Metal

Routley, West in top-five, Teng sixth in Elite categories It was a cold and gray start for the Test of Metal last Saturday, but if a few wet roots and rocks didn’t bother you, then the race conditions were an improvement over last year’s sw

Routley, West in top-five, Teng sixth in Elite categories

It was a cold and gray start for the Test of Metal last Saturday, but if a few wet roots and rocks didn’t bother you, then the race conditions were an improvement over last year’s sweat fest, where temperatures approached 30 degrees Celsius.

More than 800 athletes took part in the 67.5 km epic race, which includes more than 35 km of singletrack mountain biking.

For the first year ever, the Test of Metal was sanctioned by the International Cycling Union, which meant that the top elite racers could earn UCI points towards this year’s World Cup series.

"The level of competition at this year’s race was among the best we’ve ever had," said race director Cliff Miller. "And it’s a thrill for more than 600 citizen racers in the Test to race alongside some of the best in the world." For the first stretch, anyway.

In the Elite Men’s race, the win went to Vancouver’s Andrew Kyle with a time of two hours, 42 minutes, 42 seconds. Kyle finished third last year and second the year before. This was his first win at the Test of Metal.

He was chased hard all the way to the finish, with Carter Hovey, last year’s champion, crossing the line 24 seconds later. Hovey was right on Kyle’s rear tire until a crash in the Crumpit Woods set him back slightly, and allowed Matthew Martindill to catch up. The two riders battled it out for second place, and at the very end it was Hovey by just three seconds.

A pair of Whistler riders, Will Routley and Tyler West, finished fourth and fifth respectively with times of 2:46:52 and 2:49:14. Routley, who finished sixth last year, got his wish and beat his last year’s time by ten minutes.

"It went well. It was a little cooler than last year, but the course was a little wet, so it was a tradeoff," he said.

Routley, has cut large chunks of time off the clock over the years, and he feels close to a top three and maybe even a win.

"The thought has crossed my mine, definitely. If I can cut four minutes off next year, I could do it."

According to Routley, the lead group stuck together for most of the race before the top three riders broke away on ‘Bonk Hill’. "I rode most of 9 mile hill with (Tyler) West, and he was riding really well. He really put me to work on Bonk Hill, put the hurt on me."

Although he usually starts to cramp it up near the end of the race in the Crumpit Woods section, Routley said he felt really good this year, and credits his fitness to all of the road racing he has been doing since the early spring.

This weekend Routley is off to the road nationals in Hamilton, Ontario, where he is attempting to qualify for the World Championships there in August.

Trevor Hopkins, also from Whistler, finished 21 st overall in 3:06:12.

In the women’s elite race, Vancouver’s Lesley Tomlinson took the checkered flag in 3:19:30. Sarah Noble of Penticton finished second in 3:21:41, and was leading the race until Tomlinson made her move in the Powerhouse Plunge section. Sandra Walter of Coquitlam, the 2001 champion, was third.

Whistler’s Angela Teng finished in sixth place with a time of 3:26:30. Jill Vale was 18 th in a time of 3:57:13.

In other categories:

Brook Baker took a break from dowhill racing to finish fourth in the Under 17/Junior Women category, completing the race in 4:29:58.

James Crowe won the Under 17 Men’s race with a time of 3:04:04, which would have been good enough to win the Junior Expert Men’s race, and to finish top-20 in the elite division. It was also good enough to just beat out his father Eric Crowe, who won Master Over 40 Expert Men’s race with a time of 3:04:45.

Two spots behind Eric was Tony Routley, Will Routley’s father, who finished the race in 3:05:58. Lee Harrison was ninth in 3:28:13, and Lance Brannigan was 18 th in 3:57:07.

Jodie Hopkins was third overall among the Senior Sport Women in 4:55:07.

Joanna Harrington was third among Senior Expert Women in 3:54:26.

In the Master 30 to 39 Expert Men, Michael Boehm finished third in 2:59:30, Matthew Bodkin was seventh in 3:05:36, and Lloyd Thomas was 11 th in 3:07:09.

In the Master 30 to 39 Expert Women’s race, Ronni Lister finished first overall with a time of 3:54:13. Marilyn Hellier was fourth in 4:08:40.

In the Single Speed bike category Alex Cogger was seventh in 4:05:06.

Jim Monahan was 32 nd in the Citizen 50 and Over race with a time of 6:30:03.

In the Citizen 50 and Over women’s racer, Uschi Scherer was first in 4:37:06 and Brenda Baker was second in 5:17:58.

In the Citizen 40 to 49 race, John Blok was 17 th in 3:50:05, Grant Lamont was 48 th in 4:19:31, Geoff Weddell was 81 st in 4:41:55, and Ken Melamed was 93 rd in 4:51:34.

In the women’s 40 to 49 race, Dawn Weberg-Titus finished second in 4:17:54.

In the Citizen 30 to 39 race, Stu Ridley was 21 st in 3:49:42.

In the Citizen Women’s 30 to 39 race, Caroline Lamont was fifth overall in 4:32:37. Kathleen Sullivan was eighth in 4:25:37, Marla Zucht was 10 th in 4:30:38, Marie-Anne Prevost was 11 th in 4:33:57, Meredith Armstrong was 12 th in 4:35:48, and Lisa Princic was 19 th in 4:45:29.

In the Citizen 19 to 29 group, Shane Robilliard was 27 th in 4:15:10.

In the women’s 19 to 29 race, Christine Cogger was third in 4:17:27 and Schalene Warren was 11 th in 4:48:50.

In the Teen Test of Metal, which was held on a shorter course 15 minutes after the mass start for the Test of Metal, Jesse Melamed finished second out of 16 kids in the Minime Masher category in 1:03:15, 42 seconds back of the lead. Tom Rattray was 10 th in 1:16:39, and Luke Brannigan 11 th in 1:25:11.

In the TeenTest Women, Toria Whitney was ninth in 1:20:58, and Brooke Milne 11 th in 1:27:13.