By Andrew Mitchell
The fourth event of the U.S. NORBA National Mountain Bike
Series took place in Part City, Utah this past weekend and a few local and B.C.
riders were in the field.
Victoria’s Geoff Kabush won the short track cross-country race
by just 15 seconds, and placed second in the cross country race to remain at
the top of the NORBA standings, while North Vancouver’s Alison Sydor was sixth
in the women’s short track event.
Willow Koerber, an American rider who lives and trains in
Whistler, was fourth in the short track race and third in the pro women’s
cross-country.
In the downhill, Whistler’s Katrina Strand finished 11
th
out of 26 riders after crashing three times in the same run. According to an
e-mail update, she missed Thursday’s practice session because of some trouble
at the airport, but liked the course. “Some really tech, rocky sections, loose
corners, dust, more rocks, more corners — fun in Utah!” she wrote.
“It took a few runs to figure it out but I felt good. My
qualifying run went well — I bobbled at one point and had to ride behind
a girl for a little too long but she eventually moved over, let me pass and I
finished sixth. I knew with a clean run and no one in my way things would be
good. During my race run though I exploded three times and ended up 11
th
.
Frustrating.”
In the men’s downhill the top Canadian was the North Shore’s Andrew Mitchell, placing 13 th out of almost 70 racers.