There are always lots of stories to tell at the end of the Cheakamus Challenge Fall Classic, a 70-km point-to-point race from Squamish Airport to Whistler Creek with about 2,000 metres of climbing from start to finish.
This year the biggest story was the rain, which soaked the course the night before to create some deep puddles and slippery roots on the singletrack sections, but which cleared up on Saturday to create some perfect cycling weather.
"I was terrified of the weather the night before, but as it was we had a pretty good day. I'm a proud of all the riders who stuck it out," said race director Grant Lamont.
"The rain probably cost us 80 to 100 entries and there were a lot of no-shows, but I thought it was a great event."
Lamont has been organizing the race since 1989, resurrecting an event called See Colours and Puke that had disappeared a few years earlier.
Looking forward, Lamont is interested in bringing new partners on board to organize and promote the event, which broke 1,000 riders for several years before dropping to between 300 and 400 riders on average.
Another story of the race was a stalled train near the Cheakamus Crossing neighbourhood, which delayed riders for several minutes as they carried their bikes around the back of the train. As a result riders were roughly 10 minutes slower than previous years.
Whistler's Joanna Harrington topped the women's full course this year with a time of 3:36:34. Lesley Clements followed Harrington home in 3:49:26. Katherine Short of the Sunshine Coast was third in 3:55:12.
"I just got back from the worlds in Australia where I had the most amazing experience (but) missed the Wheel Up and was looking forward to the Cheakamus Challenge," said Harrington. "It's such a good opportunity and reason to cover some incredible terrain and views. Hopefully next year more Whistler riders will do it and get the numbers back up to what they were. It's quite incredible this is the 20 th year."
Martin Lazarski took the Pro Expert Men's race in 3:09:47, almost three minutes ahead of Cory Wallace's time of 3:12:41. Andy Traslin was third in 3:17:17.
Squamish's Kelly Servinski was the top local rider, finishing in fourth place in 3:17:32 while Josh Stott was the top Whistler racer in seventh place in 3:34:32.
Another result of note this year was Neal Kindree, who was competing for the first time in over a year and a half after being sidelined with a knee injury. He finished the course in 3:43:40 despite two flats, placing 10 th in his category.
In Women 19 to 29 Karen Collins of New Zealand placed first in 4:21:57, followed by Whistler's Charmaine Lightfoot in 4:54:49, and Tamami Kubota of Vancouver in 5:44:10.
Whistler's Cathy Zeglinski put her marathon and stage races to good use with a win in women's 40 to 49 in 4:08:55, followed by Tamara Goeppel of the Yukon in 4:15:54 and Julia Balkwill of North Vancouver in 4:59:22.
Brenda Baker of Whistler raced alone in Women 50 to 59, finishing the course in 5:18:45.
Two boys competed in the 13 and Under category this year with Logan Simonson of North Vancouver finishing the race in 6:07:15, followed by Jonathan Bramley of the U.K. in 7:06:53.
Devan McClelland of North Vancouver won Men 14 to 18 in 3:38:17, followed by Rob Leigh of Team Squamish in 4:01:14. Jordan Heyes of North Vancouver was third in 4:42:58.
Simon Fremblay of Campbell River won the Men's 19 to 29 race in 3:34:16, followed by North Vancouver's Brett Grayston in 3:51:13 and Daniel Stein 3:56:03.
Mike Boehm won the closely fought Men 30 to 39 race in 3:23:11, and was the fastest Whistler rider on Saturday. He followed by Dwayne Kress of Garibaldi Highlands in 3:28:14 and Ian Auld in 3:28:23. There were 65 riders in the 30-39 category at the start line this year.
"This is the 13 th (Cheakamus Challenge) in a row that I've done, I haven't missed one since I moved to town," said Boehm. "I never feel like I'm racing it, I feel like it's a constant battle of pacing. I have definitely gone out too hard a number of years, which you can't do with all that climbing at the end. If you can push just one extra gear through all that I know that you can make up a lot of ground. No cramps, no bike issues, I just tried to ride nice and smooth through everything."
Boehm said he was about 40 seconds behind Kress heading into the Riverside trails, and expected the Squamish rider to win the category - Kress even came from behind on one section once after stopping to help Neal Kindree fix a flat.
"I would have been happy to try and stick with him, I did through the Sea to Sky Trail, but when we got to Riverside his legs started to cramp on him and he had a mini bonk. I rode the rest of the race by myself."
In the Men 40 to 49 race, where there were 74 starters, Whistler's Eric Crowe took the top spot in 3:27:20, followed by Vesa Suomalainen in 3:39:21 and Sheldon Orr in 3:40:15.
William Letham of North Vancouver was first in Men 50 to 59 in 3:50:16, followed by Frank Ammirati of White Rock in 4:04:50 and Peter Krumins of Garibaldi Highlands in 4:08:45.
There were two starters in Men 60-plus, with Robin Willard of Victoria taking first in 4:03:03 and Rick Ceccanti of Tacoma, Washington second in 4:47:54.
Overall attendance this year was mixed.
The Cheakamus Lite race was light, no doubt as a result of the fair weather riders who decided to stay away after all the rain the night before. However, attendance at the main event was strong this year with over 220 riders taking part.
WORCA director Benoit Reneault placed first in the Beginner Short Course with a time of 2:01:20, after almost missing the event with mechanical problems.
John Minton was second in 2:31:01, followed closely by Spence Brne in 2:31:06.
The second-fastest rider on the short course was junior racer Mahon Lamont, who completed the course in 2:23:38. He was followed by Jack Iles in 2:27:02.
Alison Iles was tops in the women's short course in 2:33:26, followed by Hannah Garcia in 2:42:26 and Rya Letham in 2:50:51.
