Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Local riders take Fluidride glory

The Fluidride Cup series is one of the biggest pro-am downhill circuits in North America, the kind of place you find World Cup racers on an off-week from the tour.
62715_l

The Fluidride Cup series is one of the biggest pro-am downhill circuits in North America, the kind of place you find World Cup racers on an off-week from the tour.

This past weekend, the series dropped into Whistler for the first time, offering two different courses for different levels of riders. The Pro and Category I riders tackled Upper Whistler Downhill, Detroit Rock City and Lower Canadian Open. Category II and III riders had a course than included Angry Pirate, Crab Apple, Samurai Pizza Cat, Ho Chi Minh and Monkey Hands - a longer but less technical route.

A field of 175 racers turned out on Sunday to race, shrugging off the wet and slippery conditions.

In Pro Men, Tyler Gorz of Coquitlam took the win in 3:03.94, followed by Whistler's Kenny Smith in 3:05.39. Luciano Worl of Washington was third in 3:09.16. Other local riders in the running include Kevin Bartkowski in fourth place in 3:09.22 and Adam Mantle in 11 th in 3:18.75.

In Pro Women, Danice Uyesugi of the North Shore took the win in 3:39.08. Whistler's Katrina Strand placed second in 3:45.49. Kari Mancer, Dawn Cashen and Maime Hill were fourth, fifth and seventh respectively.

In Category I Men 15 to 18, Whistler's Nicholas Geddes won the race in 3:04.21, followed by Tyler Allison in 3:11.82. Chayse Marshall of Kamloops was third in 3:13.48.

Squamish riders Jordan Gosteli and Owen Scully were fifth and sixth, and Kip Shortreed was 13 th . Whistler's Max Horner had the fastest qualifying time but was a DNF (Did Not Finish).

In Category I Men 19 to 29, Whistler's Ian Morrison won the race in 3:20.84, followed by German racer Gregory Voss in 3:24.57 and Evan Palmer of Washington in 3:25.49.

Locals in the running include Dan Diedricksen of Whistler in seventh, and Leo Brandvold and Clinton Gould of Squamish in 11 th and 12 th .

Mark Bunyan of Squamish won the Category I Men 30 to 39 race in 3:24.81, followed by Tyler Earnheart and Matt Patterson of Washington in 3:26.10 and 3:27.84.

In Category I Men 40-Plus, Whistler's Graham Beatty placed first in 3:32.96, followed by Bryan Gioia of Port Moody in 3:36.54 and Jerry Southworth of Washington in 3:56.74.

In Category I Open Women, the first rider was Lindsay Trimble of Burnaby in 4:15.69, followed by Karaleen Westmoreland of Port Moody in 4:29.69.

In Category II Men 15 to 18, Alexander Geddes of Whistler placed first in 4:19.89, followed by Lee Jackson of Squamish in 4:24.37. Thomas Zonneveld of Langley picked up third place in 4:29.77. Brin Alexander was 16 th .

In Category II Men 13 to 14, Jack Iles of Whistler was first in 4:54.01, followed by Benjamin Jelinek of Washington in 5:33.54.

In Category II Men 19 to 29, the winner was Berenel Boer of Whistler in 4:19.32, followed by Paul Stevens of Whistler in 4:21.23. Jesse Ballhausen of Pemberton was third in 4:29.51.

Other local results include Damon Commerer in 4:40.17, Ben Hoffmann in 4:47.02 and Alf Brockett in 5:02.71. Stacy Kohut, a disabled rider on a four-wheel bike, was 20 th .

James Splinter of Pemberton was fourth in Category II 30 to 39 in 5:03.37, with the top three spots going to riders from Washington: Scott Kemp in 4:35.20, Kim Sturts in 4:52.41 and Andrew Pickering in 5:02.54.

In Category II 40 to 49, Washington's Adrian Whitfield and Jim McCracken were first and second, with times of 5:15.12 and 5:16.48, followed by Joe Sales of Vancouver in 5:17.38.

In Category II Women Open, Simmone Lyons of Whistler was first in 5:17.05, followed by Emily Slaco of Gold Bridge in 5:35.19 and Yvonne Gillette of Washington in 6:01.38.

The downhill schedule for the summer is still being finalized, including dates for the Phat Wednesday series. Registration for Crankworx events also got underway last week at www.crankworx.com.