Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Allison third in XC nationals

Local rider first cadet-aged racer to win national junior title
1530nationals
Sticks and Stones, and Broken Bones Whistler's Tyler Allison stands with B.C.'s Bianca Adolf after winning the overall Canada Cup cross-country title for the season. With a broken wrist and other injuries, Allison was the first cadet-aged racer to with the Junior Expert title.

Riding in a higher age group against athletes three years older, and with a broken bone in his forearm from the previous weekend’s downhill nationals, Whistler’s Tyler Allison placed third in the Junior Expert category at the Tim Horton’s Cross Country Mountain Bike National Championships last weekend.

Like the previous downhill, the cross-country event was held at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec. The conditions were better than they were for the downhill, where the torrential downpour and fog changed the course almost from rider to rider, but the cross-country trails were still wet and slippery in sections and crashes were par for the course.

Riding with one good hand didn’t help matters for Allison, who can’t remember a season where he was as beaten up — starting with an injury to his hand over the winter where he was accidentally stabbed with a pair of scissors and some of his tendons were damaged.

“It was brutal,” he said. “The first thing that happened was we got there on Wednesday and there was no time to train, so on Thursday I went to get on my bike and I swung the leg over the seat and my back went out. I was lying on the ground, I couldn’t move.

“I went to physio and massage for two days, which were my two days to train for the national downhill. I knew I was kind of pushing it because I didn’t get to know the course before the race. On the day of the race I was feeling pretty good and picked up the pace in the mandatory training. Of course I didn’t have the course memorized and I hit a rock in a fast section that sent me off my bike.”

Allison was disappointed, as he had raced most of the other athletes in the group and knew he was a contender to win the overall Under 17 title.

He was given a removable cast for the broken bone in his forearm, and switched over to a splint for the cross-country race. He took a fall on that side on his first lap, and split his knuckle down to the bone.

After that he got back on his bike, and pushed it through to the third lap where he crashed again on his injured wrist.

“That really hurt, I didn’t want to get up after that but I did,” he said.

Despite all of his troubles, Allison was happy with his performance.

Evan Guthrie, Allison’s teammate on Team B.C., took an early lead in Junior Expert race, while Allison was sitting in fourth after the first lap and within 15 seconds of the lead. Things spaced out more on the second lap for the leaders, and Allison moved ahead of Quebec’s Jon Boucher to take the third spot on the podium.

“That was my goal after I hurt myself in the downhill, I just wanted to be on the podium and I made that. I also won enough points to get the Canada Cup overall title, and was the first cadet ever to win that while racing as a junior,” he said, adding that he still has two full seasons of eligibility in the junior expert category.

“The course was amazing, by far the best course I’ve ever raced on. It just flowed really well, there were a lot of passing opportunities, and quite a bit of technical riding and singletrack. There’s one set of berms that was all linked up and really fast, and it was the best section. My goal is to come back here and win the Worlds as a junior in 2010.”

Allison plans to race in Crankworx events in Whistler, but is taking a break from cross-country for a few weeks at the request of coach Richard Wooles. This year Allison is racing with Team B.C., which is being run by the provincial cycling association, and says it has been a good experience.

“Ever since Richard got involved it’s been getting so much better,” he said. “We’re getting tonnes of support, and there’s a lot of sponsors for the team to pay for training camps, and for going out to events as a team. It’s been really good to have that coaching, and it paid off with three B.C. riders on the podium.”

In the Under 17 race, which had 76 riders at the start gate, B.C.’s top racer was Squamish’s Mo Lawrence in sixth place. Nick Geddes and Max Horner, who placed first and second in the Under 17 downhill the previous weekend, were 17 th and 44 th respectively.

In the Under 17 women’s race, Lauren Rosser of Squamish was ninth overall.

In the elite categories, Victoria’s Geoff Kabush took the men’s title. He was followed one second later by Ontario’s Derek Zandstra and Quebec’s Mathieu Toulouse.

On the women’s side Marie-Helene Premont of Quebec was again victorious, earning her sixth national title.

It was a tough victory, as Premont overcame a locked up front shock at the start of the race and a crash on the final decent to win by just six seconds over Catherine Pendrel of Kamloops. Wendy Simms of Nanaimo was third.

Most of the elite riders will stay put for this weekend’s World Cup cross-country and downhill races, which are also taking place at Mont-Sainte-Anne.