Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Sports briefs

Watton second in Trans-Provence mountain bike race

 

Whistler's Mike Watton stumbled on the Trans-Provence earlier this year through a friend of a friend - who happens to be friends with a Seattle-based adventure racer always on the lookout for interesting events. He'd never heard of the Trans-Provence, which is only in its second year.

But once he knew more, he simply had to go after his friend agreed to sign up.

The payoff was 350 km of riding in the south of France over seven days, including 25 timed downhill stages - the only sections of the ride that were timed. Watton finished those stages - over 15,200 vertical metres when all was said and done - in five hours, 11 minutes and 32 seconds, placing second overall out of 45 riders.

"I thought going in that a top-three was achievable, but then I had a setback before going," said Watton, who had shoulder surgery in February and didn't ride as much this summer as he expected. "About three months out I was thinking that maybe I wouldn't try to be competitive and would just ride for fun and not let myself get stressed out about it. But after day two of riding I thought 'I can do this.'"

Watton says riding in Whistler was definitely an advantage as the descents were surprisingly technical - probably as technical as the descents on Whistler's West side that were featured in Richie's Rally back in August. It was all natural terrain, with narrow, steep trails and endless technical switchbacks, although they also rode down the occasional staircase that passed through a town.

"It was really the perfect Whistler race," said Watton. "You climb up and if you pass through any towns you'd stop for an espresso or a bite to eat, or a beer and enjoy the view. Then you'd climb again until you got to the timed section. Then you'd race to the bottom for five minutes to 25 minutes, whatever it was, then wait for your friends to come down. You'd take off your pads, check the map to see what was next and then you start climbing again."

The race starts in the Durance Valley and finishes in Monaco, with terrain that borders on desert at some elevations. The result was rugged ground, "spiny plants like cactus and a lot of flats," said Watton.

Watton says the organizer created the event as the definitive mountain bike competition, a mountain bike tour operator who has combined the popularity of enduro-style mountain bike events with big mountain stage events. "This is what mountain biking is in his eyes, and I couldn't agree more," he said.

For more on the race visit www.trans-provence.com.

 

Commonwealth Games comes down to the last lap

As predicted, the flat Commonwealth Games road race was all about the sprinters, although team tactics did come into play when it came to pacing in the peleton.

The women completed eight laps of a 112 km course around New Dehli, India  and the men 12 laps or 167 km.

Whistler's Will Routley joined the Canadian men's team, which included Zach Bell, Arnaud Paillon, Dominique Rolling and Ryan Roth.

There was a breakaway on the first lap, but it didn't last and by the end of the race it was one big peleton sprinting to the finish. Some 78 riders dropped out between the start and the finish (none of the Canadians) giving the remaining riders some space heading into the final lap. Allan Davis of Australia crossed the line first, followed by Hayden Roulston of New Zealand and David Millar of Scotland. Dominique Rollin was the top Canadian, in sixth place, followed by Zach Bell in 11th. Routley was 19th, Arnaud Papillon 22nd and Ryan Roth 25th.

In the women's race that morning it was equally tight, and for a while Erinne Willock held the lead for Canada. The entire field stayed together until the last lap, minus the 20 riders who dropped out. Then everything fell apart as riders started to jockey for the lead. Australia's Rochelle Gilmore won the sprint, followed by Elizabeth Armistead of England and Chloe Hosking of Australia. The top Canadian was Joelle Numainville, in sixth place. Teammate Tara Whiteen was seventh, Erinne Willock 13th, Anne Samplonius 15th and Leah Kirchamann 21st.

 

Whistler Nordics AGM Oct. 20

If all goes well we may be less than a month from the start of the Nordic ski season in the Callaghan Valley, and with a full slate of programs and events on the calendar it should be a busy year for the Whistler Nordics.

The Nordics are hosting their annual general meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at the recently completed Lost Lake Passive Haus. The AGM is an opportunity to discuss last season and what's ahead for 2010-2011, as well as for board elections.

More information will be posted online at www.whistlernordics.com.

The Whistler Nordics will follow up with their annual ski swap on Saturday, Oct. 30. More details will be announced closer to the date.

Other events to keep in mind include a Level 2 dryland coaching workshop Oct. 22-24, the beginning of Wednesday Evening Masters advanced programs on Nov. 2, the Thursday Morning Masters Tune Up program on Nov. 25.

There will be three Coast Cup events at Whistler Olympic Park this season, with a race hosted by Hollyburn on Dec. 11, and back-to-back races hosted by the Whistler Nordics and Pemberton Spud Valley Nordics on Jan. 8 and 9 respectively.

 

For the Record

In last week's coverage of the WORCA annual general meeting Pique got the name of the organizations PR director wrong. The proper name is Vanessa Murphy. We apologize for the error.