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Sports Briefs: Semenuk takes lead in FMB standings

Whistler's Brandon Semenuk is coming home on a roll, with wins in his last four slopestyle competitions to place first overall in the Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) world tour.
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Whistler's Brandon Semenuk is coming home on a roll, with wins in his last four slopestyle competitions to place first overall in the Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) world tour.

Semenuk's latest win was at the Bearclaw Invitational at Mount Washington last Saturday, Aug. 4. At that event, Semenuk's strongest competition came from a couple of other Canadian riders, with Ontario's Brett Rheeder taking second place and Surrey's Anthony Messere third. Semenuk's 360 spin on the huge step up and a flip whip over the final jump gave him the win, and the overall lead in the FMB tour with 4,250 points. He's followed by Martin Soderstrom of Sweden with 3,8623.50 points and Sam Pilgrim of Great Britain with 3,523.75.

All four of Semenuk's wins are in gold-level FMB events. First place at Red Bull Joyride at Crankworx Whistler would give Semenuk the overall title for the second year running, but if he doesn't repeat here he has another chance to take the title at Red Bull Rampage in October.

Neal Kindree adds TransRockies titles to his collection

Squamish's Neal Kindree has won the Open Men's category at the TransRockies, competing solo over seven stages — a three-day event and a four-day event.

In the three-day race, Kindree won the first two stages and placed second in stage three to take the TR3 crown with a combined time of six hours and two minutes.

Chris Sheppard was second in 6:08:34 and Evan Mcneely third in 6:12:37.

In TR4, Kindree was perfect, winning all four stages to post a total time of 11:33:05 with a lead of close to 16 minutes. Dougal Allan was second in 11:48:48 and Houston Peschl third in 12:34:16.

The race got underway in Fernie on July 27 and finished in Canmore on Aug. 2.

Just Another Bike Race wraps Squamish epic season

Maybe the Ore Crusher came up in May and you decided that you weren't fit enough yet to race a 40km event. Then the Test of Metal, but you weren't sure in December/January when the event went on sale, and so you missed out on the 67km epic. A few weeks ago was the GearJammer, a 45km epic ride in Squamish — but you were signed up for Xterra, or 5 Peaks, or Charlie's Angels or one of the other competing events and couldn't make it. That leaves one Squamish epic, the roughly 40km Just Another Bike Race on Aug. 18 that features a lot of the trails that weren't included in the other three epics. The complete course details will be announced soon at www.testofmetal.com.

This week organizers announced the prize purse for the race, and like other epics the stakes have gone up this year. There's $1,200 total up for grabs, courtesy of the race sponsors at Pearson Financial.

The event gets underway at 11 a.m. at Quest University. Registration is available for $67.20, which includes the $55 race entry, a $5 trail improvement fee and $7.20 in HST.

BVOD goes to 11

The annual Beyond the Valleycliffe of the Dolls ride in Squamish turns 11 this Saturday, Aug. 11. The event is a ride rather than a race, with riders heading out from Valleycliffe and taking on some of the steepest rock lines in the area. A lot of the rides require a bit of hiking, so flat pedals and bike shoes are more or less mandatory. Helmets are also mandatory, and full-face helmets and pads are a good idea.

To take part, registration starts at 9:30 a.m. at Raven's Plateau, with the riding getting underway at 11 a.m. There is a $35 fee for all SORCA members, and an additional $20 for non-members to cover insurance. All proceeds from the event will go to Squamish Search and Rescue.