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PhaSt and furious in the bike park

The first of three Kokanee PhaSt Wednesday races of the season took place on Wednesday, July 7 with a hardy crew of 133 riders taking on a very technical course in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park.

The first of three Kokanee PhaSt Wednesday races of the season took place on Wednesday, July 7 with a hardy crew of 133 riders taking on a very technical course in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park.

The PhaSt Wednesday series is the more technical cousin of the intermediate Phat Wednesday Series and specializes in black and double black trails. The first of three events included Schleyer, Lower Whistler Downhill and Detroit Rock City - not a long course but a tough one.

Curtis Keene took the men's open category with a time of two minutes, 36.34 seconds, edging out Kenny Smith (2:36.89) by half a second. Harry Armstrong was third in 2:41.24.

Rounding out the top 10 were Peter Matthews in 2:44.41, Tristan Merrick in 2:45.48, Stephen Matthews in 2:45.77, Shane Gayton in 2:47.41, Alastair Chapple in 2:47.46, Charlie Collins in 2:47.78 and Berend Boer in 2:48.06.

Sarah Leishman was the top female rider out of eight racers in 3:13.68. She was followed by Brook Baker in 3:20.70 and Shelly Flood in 3:23.51. Sarah Newman and Amalie Budgen rounded out the top five in 3:29:72 and 3:36.24 respectively.

In the Master 30-plus men's race Chris Dewar was the rider to beat in 2:47.88, Dewar was followed by Todd Hellinga in 2:52.51 and Alan Golds in 2:53.22. Rounding out the top 10 were Joel Robinson in 2:55.51, Bart Brown in 2:56.56, Mark Wood in 2:56.76, Jeff Leigh in 2:59.33, Peter O'Loughlin in 2:59.79, Aaron Lyons in 3:00.38 and Darryn Hendersen in 3:02.03.

There were also 10 juniors in the running. Cam Johnson was first in 2:50.44, Benedict Fredenmann second in 2:54.84 and Thomas Zonneveld third in 2:55.68. Also in the top five were Jonathan Allyn in 2:58.99 and Akibe Ahmed in 3:00.01.

While the field was smaller than a Phat Wednesday, that increased the riders' chances of going home with a draw prize.

Jane Vogan and Garrett Jones won the Sram drive trains, Ian Morrison won the Hayes Brakes, Angela Coates and Josh Lyons won the Maxxis tires, Dane Crowe-Hudgkins won the Garbanzo Bike and Bean gift certificate, and Ben Hoffman won the Kali full-face helmet. Other prizes were donated by Race Face, Odi, Decline Magazine, Dakine, Garbanzo Bike and Bean, the GLC and Kokanee.

The July 14 Phat Wednesday took place yesterday on a much easier course.

Future dates for PhaSt Wednesday are July 28 and Aug. 25. For more information visit www.whistlerblackcomb.com/bike.