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Sports Briefs: Early bird deadline nears for NimbyFifty

The early bird deadline for the third annual NimbyFifty bike race in Pemberton is fast approaching, going up from $65 to $75 on April 20.
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The early bird deadline for the third annual NimbyFifty bike race in Pemberton is fast approaching, going up from $65 to $75 on April 20. The race itself takes place on May 26, with a 35km course on some of the area's most famous singletrack — Happy Trail and Big Nimby climbs, the Overnight Sensation descent, and trails like Sphincter, Econoline, No Err, Ramble On, Moby Dick and Dark Forest.

Registration is pacing ahead of last year with 260 already signed up for the ride. The organizers extended the cap from 300 to 400 riders this year, so there's still time to decide. Most of the trails are clear of snow at this point, so there's an opportunity to pre-ride sections before riders make up their minds — the course is technical in places and will be challenging for intermediate level riders.

For more information and registration, visit www.nimbyfifty.com.

Local riders solid in NW Cup opener

The first major downhill mountain bike race for the region took place last week outside of Port Angeles, Washington, kicking off the NW Cup series.

A handfull of local riders made the trip.

Lee Jackson of Squamish was second in Category 1, 18 and Under, with a time of 2:54.63. Alexander "Xander" Geddes was fifth in 2:58.40.

In Open Women, Miranda Miller of Squamish placed third, not too far behind Jill Kintner of Seattle and Holly Feniak of Sechelt. North Vancouver's Danice Uyesui was fifth.

Remi Gauvin of the B.C. Team placed first in Open Men by half a second with a time of 2:43.10. Whistler's Tyler Allison was fifth in 2:47.57. Nick Geddes, returning to racing after battling leukemia last season, was a solid 16th out of 40 riders in 2:56.18.

Brandon Baker of Pemberton raced alone in the Hardtail Open category, posting a time of three minutes, 16.50 seconds on the Dry Hill course.

Kenzie Wade raced in Category 3 Women Open, placing second with a time of 4:23.31.

Round Two of the NW CUP series is at Port Angeles from April 26 to 29.

Every Woman conference

This April 27 to 29 marks the ninth running of the Whistler Every Woman in the World Conference, a three-day event packed with workshops, socials, group activities and motivational speakers. Many of the workshops and events promote health and wellness, although others teach financial planning, career planning and more.

A complete schedule and list of programs is at www.everywomanintheworld.com, but some of the workshops on the list include nordic walking, learning to mountain bike, kayaking, yoga, nia, Boot Camp, Gyrokinesis, hypnotherapy, pelvic floor fitness, Bellyfit, Astrology, various dance classes, martial arts, and more.

For locals that have accommodation you can purchase workshops a la carte and buy tickets for social events as well. For more, visit the website.

Rousseau retires from freestyle team

After 15 years with the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team, mogul skier Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau announced this week that he was retiring.

His career includes 147 World Cup starts and 23 podiums (four for gold medals), a World Championship title and a fifth place in the 2010 Olympics.

Rousseau plans to devote time to his new passion, skydiving.

"My first sky dive was in 1998," he said. "At that time it was just a hobby in the off season. Skydiving was always the thing that could get me out of my small depression after the end of the competitive season. Then in 2007 I started BASE jumping (jumping from cliffs, buildings, bridges and other features) which only added to my passion."

BASE stands for Buildings, Aerials, Spans (bridges) and Earth (cliffs).

Rousseau said he knew it was time to move on. "Jean-Luc Brassard once told me, 'the day that you're going to be finished, you're going to know,'" he said. "I never felt that day before. But this year, just before the dual event at Deer Valley (in February) I got to the top and felt it. I said to myself, 'wow, that's it, I'm not skiing any more,' and I felt it so strongly partly because my passion for my other project grew bigger in me than what I have for skiing.

"I skied down to my coach (Rob Kober), I told him it's over. He was very surprised, but then he saw that I was serious and told me it had been a pleasure and an honour to be with me for those years and that he respected my judgement."

Rousseau said his future would revolve around professional skydiving, BASE jumping and teaching.

Rousseau's career has had its ups and downs. The low point was in 2002 when he broke his back a month before he was to compete at the 2002 Winter Games at Salt Lake City. His best World Cup season was the following year with six World Cup podiums, but he couldn't build on the momentum and didn't qualify for the Games in 2006. He rallied and in 2007 won the World Championship title.

Top Canadians skip freeride opener

The Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour opened with the Vienna Air King competition last weekend with some of the world's top riders vying for the first prize money and points of the 2012 season.

However, given that it's only a silver-level event — below gold and platinum in the FMB rankings — all of the top Canadians opted to skip the competition. Missing from the start list was Whistler's Brandon Semenuk, the 2011 overall champion, Anthony Messere (fourth), Darren Berrecloth (ninth), Kurtis Sorge (10th), Geoff Guleich (12th) and Mitch Chubey (14th).

The only Canuck in the group was Ontario's Matt MacDuff, who placed 28th out of 30 invited riders.

The win went to British rider Sam Pilgrim, followed by fellow Brit Sam Reynolds in second and Andreu Lacondeguy of Spain in third third place. Symon Godziek of Poland and Linus Sjoholm of Sweden rounded out the top five.

The field should be a little deeper for the first Gold level event, the Fise Montepellier in France on May 17. There are only two Diamond level events this season — Red Bull Joyride in Whistler on Aug. 19 and the Red Bull Rampage on Oct. 7.

Adult gymnasts in the medals

Three adult gymnasts training with Whistler Gymnastics took part in at adult meet in Vancouver last weekend.

Stephanie Davidson placed in the top five on vault, bars and beam and won the overall "Pizazz Award."

Viet Bui won silver on bars and floor and was third on vault, winning the other Pizazz Award.

Lauren Gutwin, a male gymnast, was golden on rings, parallel bars and uneven bars and second on vault.

For more on adult programs, visit www.whistlergymnastics.com.