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Whistler riders provincial champions

The B.C. Cup racing series wrapped up with cross-country and downhill events at the finals at Crystal Mountain on Aug. 17 and 18.

The B.C. Cup racing series wrapped up with cross-country and downhill events at the finals at Crystal Mountain on Aug. 17 and 18.

The series included six cross-country, six downhill and five dual slalom events, with competitors earning points based on how they placed.

Among the series’ champions and top finishers are a number of Whistler riders in a wide range of age and skill categories.

In the Under 17 Expert Women category, Whistler’s Brook Baker finished a close second to Jessica Anderson. Going into the finals Baker had a total of 285 points from three events, including back-to-back wins at the Bear Mountain Challenge in Mission and the Mad Trapper at Panorama Mountain Village. Each win was worth 100 points. She also finished second at the first event, Hammerfest 2002 in Parksville, earning another 85 points.

Baker won the final event of the season, earning 100 points. Anderson, who had 355 points going in the finals from four events – one more appearance than Baker, was a close second, earning 95 points and the provincial title.

Whistler’s James "Crunch" Crowe, who was competing in the Under 17 Expert Men category at the age of 15, finished second at Crystal Mountain, but first overall in the provincial rankings.

He ended the series with 582 out of a possible 600 racing points, winning four of six events on the race calendar and finishing second in the other two.

"I didn’t expect to do as well as I did," said Crowe, who was both the Under 15 Canadian and provincial champion the year before.

"After the first race I realized I had a good chance, so I relaxed a bit. I didn’t put a lot of pressure on myself to win, it just turned out that way,"

For the rest of the season, Crowe is looking forward to participating in local fun races like the Cheakamus Challenge, West Side Wheel Up and Samurai of Singletrack, and riding with his friends.

With another provincial title under his belt, Crowe plans on taking his riding to the next level next season. "My main focus was to do well on the B.C. Cup circuit, and next year kind of expand into different circuits with a higher level of riding." His goal is to make the national junior team in the next few years.

He is currently self-trained and largely self-motivated, although Crowe says that will likely change as more and more training is required down the road.

Tyler West also finished second at Crystal Mountain in the Junior Expert 17 to 18 category, crossing the line just 45 seconds back of the lead. Combined with his 230 racing points from three previous B.C. Cup outings, West finished third overall in the standings.

Andrew Cartwright and Colin Kerr, who were first and second in the standings, attended six and five events on the calendar respectively.

In the Pro Elite men’s category, Whistler’s Chad Miles and Dave Burch were ranked seventh and 11th heading into the finals, but dropped several positions when they did not attend the Crystal Mountain race. Michael Boehm, Lucas Curran and Will Routley also appear in the standings with a handful of races between them.

Angela Teng was the only Whistler racer in the women’s Pro Elite standings, and was ranked ninth after two appearances. After finishing sixth in the finals, she moved up to seventh place overall with just three races to her credit.

Matthew Bodkin, Todd Kemp and Luc De Gagne competed as Veteran Expert Men this season, but did not crack the top 10 in the standings.

In the Master Expert Men category, Whistler’s Eric Crowe and Tony Routley both cracked the top 10 with five and two B.C. Cup appearances respectively. Crowe disqualified in the finals, but held onto this third place ranking with 305 points in four races. Lance Brannigan also appears in the standings with one race to his credit.

In downhill competition, Brook Baker finished second overall again, despite the fact that she only made two appearances. She won the downhills at Crystal Mountain and Bear Mountain, moving into second overall behind Jacqui Babcock of Pitt Meadows.

Whistler’s Sylvie Allen was third at Crystal Mountain and third overall in the Pro Elite category with just three appearances. Claire Buchar was fourth in the standings.

In the Pro Elite men’s category, Whistler’s Kelly Walters was in 13 th place in the rankings heading into the competition with 347 points in four appearances. He will drop a few spots after missing the finals.

Chris Dewar, Chris Colbeck, Mike Atkins, Chad Onyschuk, Chad Hately, Ted Tempany, and J.J. Desormeaux also made the rankings with one or two races apiece.

Among the Junior Expert Men, Whistler’s Jeff Beatty cracked the top 10 despite only making two appearances on the B.C. Cup tour this summer.

Atkins, Dewar, Hately both competed in the finals, finishing eighth, 17 th and 25 th respectively.

In the dual slalom, J.J. Desormeaux was eighth in the dual slalom rankings and Kelly Walters was tenth.

B.C. Cup Finals, Crystal Mountain

Under 13 Men – 7.5 km

1. Brandon Semenuk (Team Evolution), 43:10.22

3. Jesse Melamed (Team Glacier Shop), 50:42.56

Junior Expert Women – 7.5 km

1. Brook Baker (Oakley, STORMBC), 41:56.82

Senior Expert Women – 15 km

3. Joanna Harrington, 1:19:49.74

Under 17 Expert Men – 7.5 km

2. James Crowe (Gyro, Evolution, Kona), 1:00:50.26

Senior Sport Men – 15 km

4. Mike Tunnah, 1:09:56.35

Master Sport Men 40 to 49 – 15 km

2. Ken Melamed, 1:20:15.03

7. John Lee, 1:42:25.11

Master Expert Men 40 to 49 – 15 km

10. Lance Brannigan (Glacier Shop), 1:21:40.41

Master Women 30-39 – 15 km

3.Uschi Sherer, 1:20:01.55

8. Darel Lee, 1:46:19.56

Senior Elite Women – 22.5 km

6. Angela Teng (Brodie, Flash 5, EZUP), 1:57:44.28

Jr. Expert Men 17-18 – 22.5 km

2. Tyler West (Rocky Mountain), 1:28.01.49

Sr. Elite Men – 30 km

13. Trevor Hopkins, 2:15:47.43

Jr. Expert Women Downhill – 1.5 km

1. Brook Baker (Oakley, STORMBC), 3:35.42

Sr. Elite Women Downhill – 1.5 km

3. Sylvie Allen (Fanatyk Co., Shimano), 3:08.96

Under 15 Men

15. Stefan Lee, 4:32.96

Under 17 Sport Men – 1.5 km

30. Dillon Melamed, 4:08.96

Sr. Elite Men – 1.5 km

8. Mike Atkins, 2:39.27

17. Chris Dewar (Fanatyk Co./Bragman), 2:44.70

25. Chad Hately, 2:47.06

Complete results are available online at www.stat-timing.com.