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Harrington, Ryan take Ken Quon Ride On

Funds go to equip Pemberton ambulance
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Rock Steady Joanna Harrington was the top female in Sunday's Re/Max Corridor Cup Challenge, part of the third annual Ken Quon Ride On event

There was a moment in his ride Sunday where Matt Ryan wondered if he should pull back a bit and lessen the chance of getting a flat. He had no idea where the rest of the field was, or how much of a lead he had going into his third lap. He also didn’t know where his race partner Matt Green was, and with both their times counting towards the Re/Max Corridor Cup Challenge title, he decided to keep hammering.

“I was riding scared the whole time,” he said. “I saw a few tubes on the course and wondered if Matt had flatted.

“I was sweating a little at the end when my partner wasn’t coming in and all the other riders were rolling in. Luckily he had a good ride — he chose a hardtail, a brand new bike he just built that morning, and he didn’t know the trails at all. He definitely knows better now — he said he has a sore back, but he had a good time.”

Many riders were surprised how challenging the route could be, winding through Lost Lake Park on a mix of singletrack and doubletrack trails. The recreational riders made one lap of the course, while Corridor Cup racers made three laps.

Ryan was the fastest male overall, completing three laps of the course in one hour, 40 minutes and 38 seconds. Kevin Calhoun was second in 1:45:50, and Greg Day third in 1:46:18.

Ryan’s partner, Green, was eighth in 1:53:01, which was good enough for a combined time of 3:33:39 and first place in the Corridor Cup Challenge.

In second place in 3:35:15 was the team of Greg Day and Dwayne Kress, while Seth Wells and Carl Goldstraw were third in 3:43:30.

Ryan enjoyed the course a lot more than he expected.

“They put a good course together, it twists all over the place,” he said. “You would never actually go out and ride that yourself and put all those trails together, but it was great. I haven’t done a lap race since probably the last Ken Quon, I usually don’t like going around in circles, but the course was in good shape and you actually got to know the line more every time you went through.”

On the women’s side, Joanna Harrington was the fastest woman overall in 1:58:34, while her partner, Leslie Clements, was in at 2:12:03. No other women entered the Corridor Cup Challenge this year.

Clements also had good things to say about the course.

“You never had a chance to relax, you were either riding up something technical or down something technical,” she said. “For this one you had to be on your game, it was actually a lot harder than you’d think. To be able to put together this kind of course in your backyard, in Lost Lake, is unbelievable.”

Clements wished there were more racers on course, as she finished the last two laps by herself.

“It was actually a bit boring sometimes, it was me by myself with a few tourists on the course. You almost wish you had someone to ride with, but the time went by pretty fast,” she said.

Mike Charuk and Fanny Paquette won the open-mixed team category, with times of 2:01:09 and 2:29:00 respectively. Craig Hamilton also raced with his daughter Kerry-Anne Hamilton, finishing together in 3:18:25.

In the combined age categories, 80 to 99, Keith Ray and Eric Crowe finished in a combined time of 3:49:13, followed closely by Bob Allison and Keith Reid in 3:49:45, and Dave Smith and Brent Murdoch in 5:07:53.

In the male 100-plus, Todd Allison and Rick Reid finished in 4:54:47.

Jesse Melamed and Mac Brunniy won the junior category with times of 2:03:39 and 2:47:16 respectively.

While the third annual Ken Quon Ride On had a solid turnout in the Re/Max Corrid Cup Challenge, organizers were disappointed by the turnout for the recreational race.

The event is a fundraiser for the Ken Quon Memorial Fund, commemorating local mountain biker Ken Quon, who died of an undiagnosed heart condition while guiding a Wild Willies group in 2005. To remember Quon, his fellow guides created the foundation to help purchase emergency health care equipment that could help others.

The first two Ride On races purchased three Welch Allyn Propaq Encore patient monitors for Whistler’s ambulance fleet. The monitors are portable diagnostic machines that can be used to quickly check vital signs on patients as they are transported from the bush to the ambulance to the hospital.

The goal of this year’s race was to purchase monitors for Pemberton’s ambulance fleet.

Money was raised from entry fees, draw prizes and a silent auction held at the post-race barbecue. For more information visit www.kenquonrideon.com.