Whistler’s Lesley Clements led all women last weekend in the first Shore 2 tha Core marathon mountain bike race on Vancouver’s North Shore, to go two for two in the five-event B.C. Cup marathon series.
It was an intense race that brought out international riders like Victoria’s Seamus McGrath and North Vancouver’s Andreas Hestler in the men’s race.
One surprising addition in the men’s field was the appearance of Vancouver Canuck Trevor Linden, who flew in at 3 a.m. the night before after the last round of NHL labour talks, and still made a 9 a.m. start. Linden, who finished with a respectable time of 3:46:53 is now looking at doing the Squamish Test of Metal at the end of June.
The course was challenging with a distance of 45 km, and some real North Shore descents included in the mix of trails.
McGrath, a strong technical rider, finished first in a time of two hours, 17 minutes and 53 seconds. Hestler finished almost six minutes back in 2:23:14, while Justin Mark of Nanaimo was third in 2:31:45.
Also in the men’s 19 to 39 Licensed group, Ryan Watts of Pemberton was 16 th in 2:52:09, Whistler’s Lloyd Thomas was 17 th out of 54 riders with a time of 2:52:15, and Mark Knight of Whistler was 41 st in 3:18:31.
Clements won the women’s 19 to 39 Licensed group in 3:13:48, almost 10 minutes ahead of Ashleigh Miller of North Vancouver. Amanda Butler of Vancouver was third.
Hillary Harrison of Pemberton was sixth in 3:29:11.
In the men’s 40-Plus Licensed group, Whistler’s Tony Routley just missed the podium in fourth place with a time of 2:40:38. David Kvick and Michael Judge of North Vancouver were first and second in 2:32:55 and 2:39:10 respectively, while James Shellard of West Vancouver was third in 2:29:11.
Whistler’s Eric Crowe was sixth in 2:47:06. Todd Carter was 19 th in 3:11:36 after being assessed a 10-minute penalty. Joern Rohde was 29 th in 3:38:28, while Joe Maika ran into some bike trouble and was a DNF.
In the 40-Plus Citizen’s group, Grant Lamont was fifth in 3:31:05.
The Marathon kicked off three weeks of events in the North Shore World Mountain Bike Festival and Conference. More information is available at www.shorebikefest.com.
