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Strand top rider in Charlie's Angels

223 women at start line for women's-only mountain bike race
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Final push Sylvie Allen rides through the cooling station provided by Whistler Fire Services en route to a second-place finish overall in the women's- only Charlie's Angels mountain bike race.

There was a male go-go dancer in the woods with music and strobe lights. Almost naked men wearing nothing but pool noodles. A Love Boat-themed refreshment station with three Isaacs serving up beverages. Firemen. The "elephant man." A guy in a leopard-print thong. Charlie's Angels was like a giant stagette on wheels, in other words, and for all the riders that were just out for a good time, the event delivered.

The race was a follow-up to last year's popular Betty vs. Veronica race, but with almost twice as many participants. Riders were divided into three teams, Team Jill, Team Kelly and Team Sabrina after the Charlie's Angels characters. They rode for both themselves and for their teammates over two stages — a downhill race in the Garbanzo Zone on Friday night, followed by a 20-plus kilometre cross-country race on Saturday that included the long climb up to the top of Golden Boner and Roam in the Loam on Blackcomb, the Yummy Nummy climb, the middle section of Comfortably Numb, Jeff's Trail, Green Lake Loop/Sea to Sky Trail and a chunk of Lost Lake Park.

In the overall, Katrina Strand placed first. She won the downhill event on Friday and placed seventh in the cross-country. With the scoring system she finished with a 7.75 — just 0.25 points ahead of bike coach Sylvie Allen, who was fourth in downhill and fourth in cross-country. Third place was a tie between Carrie Meltzer and Chrissy De Vall with 15 points. De Vall was 13th on the DH and second in the XC, and Meltzer fifth in DH and 10th in XC.

The cross-country race was itself won handily by Squamish's Brandi Heisterman, who had a mechanical on the downhill to put her out of contention for the overall. Final times are still to be posted, but she had a gap of over 10 minutes after the Sea to Sky Trail.

A former national downhill champion and bike coach, Strand knew she was riding well enough to place in the downhill. As well, she's been riding more cross-country recently and knew from the Toonie Rides that she was doing well in that category as well. But actually winning the event was another thing — she didn't even pre-ride the cross-country course and was seeing that selection of trails for the first time.

"I didn't go in with any pressure or a goal of having to win — I don't go into any events like that anymore," said Strand. "My focus was genuinely that it was just to have fun. I didn't put that much effort into anything except showing up, making new friends and having a good time."

Strand said she didn't realize she won the event until her name was called.

"I knew I had a good chance at the downhill because I've spent so much time in the park racing this year and doing all the Phat Wednesday races, and I've been riding better than I have for years on a downhill bike," she said. "I've been doing a lot of cross-country, too, probably more than downhilling, and I've been doing well at the Toonie Rides so I knew I'd have a decent cross-country race even if I took it conservatively."

Strand said the cross-country race didn't really start in earnest until Comfortably Numb. She was riding with a few other girls at a good pace, but nobody was pushing too hard until about midway. And while winning was the icing on the cake, Strand said that's not the main thing she took away from Charlie's Angels.

"It really was so much fun, (Race Director) Tony (Horn) always puts on the best events so it was not a surprise that the event was amazing," she said. "For me, to see 240 ladies or whatever out there shredding on downhill and cross-country was super inspiring and awesome. It put a lot of people outside their comfort zone and gave them a goal for fitness and with mountain bike skills to achieve so they could get through it. A lot of people were out riding stuff that they wouldn't normally ride, getting better, challenging themselves physically and mentally. As a trainer, that's what was so cool for me. It wasn't about the standings at all."

At the awards, Horn recognized the top Charlie's Angels, or the best girls from Team Jill, Team Kelly and Team Sabrina. The top trio was Katrina Strand, Carrie Meltzer and Fanny Paquette. Special credit went to the trio of Treena Wittig, Deanne Downey and Christine Burns, some recreational riders that put in a solid effort.

Another rider who got a lot of attention was Lisle Stopforth, the youngest rider at 16 years old. She placed 33rd in the downhill, but was a solid eighth overall in cross-country.

The top team overall, with the fewest points, was Team Sabrina with 17,821 points, followed by Team Kelly with 19,375 and Team Jill with 20,982.

Horn said he enjoyed putting on the event, which raised over $12,000 for the Howe Sound Women's Shelter. "Honestly, the biggest stress of the day was how fast Brandi Heisterman was on the cross-country course," he said. "We had to race ahead to get everything set up for her, because she was so fast."Horn thanked all the "Bosley's" — the all-male corp of volunteers — for making the event fun for all the girls, and Whistler Blackcomb for staging a great downhill race.

"For me, as the organizer, seeing everyone on race day having fun was awesome," he said. It's the mid-to-late packers stepping up for this that makes it so great. For some people it was their first race, but they signed on and they did the Monday Night rides, the clinics, the Toonies and everything to get ready, and they just did awesome. That's what's inspiring — to do that and raise money for the Howe Sound Women's Shelter makes for a pretty awesome experience."

Overall

1. Katrina Strand — 7.75

2. Sylvie Allen — 8

3. Chrissy De Vall — 15

4. Carrie Meltzer — 15

5. Paige Bell — 21

6. Nicole Heisterman — 24

7. Robin O'Neill — 25

8. Schalene Shelly — 26

9. Cynthia Young — 28

10. Gloria Addario — 31

Downhill

1. Katrina Strand

2. Aja Philp

3. Simmone Lyons

4. Sylvie Allen

5. Carrie Meltzer

Cross-Country

1. Brandi Heisterman

2. Chrissy De Vall

3. Robin O'Neill

4. Sylvie Allen

5. Paige Bell