The past weekend marked the return of The Ripper to the North Shore Bike Fest, which combined with Mountain Equipment Co-Op to create MEC BikeFest. Confusing? Yes, but it's also irrelevant. The entire point was to showcase three days of mountain bike racing at its finest - the Ryders Eyewear XC Prologue on Friday, the Trek Bikes XC Marathon on Saturday and the Specialized Enduro Super D on Sunday.
Locals took part in all three events, although most athletes stuck to the XC Marathon.
In the Prologue, a short and technical race on the Shore that included Juryn's Trail, Marty Lazarski was the fastest rider overall in 10 minutes, 8.33 seconds, followed by Ricky Federau in 10:21.13 and Drew Mackenzie in 10:27.57.
Whistler was represented by Katrina Strand, who raced alone in 35 to 39 Women and finished in 13:32.50. Dale Douglas raced alone in 45 to 49 Men, finishing in 15:49.91. Squamish's Megan Rose was second in Elite Women in 13:48.26.
There was a big turnout for the XC Marathon. Ricky Federau topped the Elite Men in 1:58:46, followed by Marty Lazarski in 1:59:29. Michael Pruner was a distant third in 2:05:19. Whistler's Michael Robinson finished 10th in the category in 2:11:24.
In Elite Women, Ann Yew of Vancouver and Team Whistler placed first in 2:41:32, followed by Joele Guynup in 2:45:27 and Megan Rose in 2:52:46.
Several other local riders took part in the age categories.
Jereomy Pelletier of Team Squamish placed second in 15 to 19 Male in 2:34:17.
Whistler's Fanny Paquet placed first in 30 to 34 Female in 2:58:26, followed by Katrina Strand in 3:08:47.
David Reid of Squamish was fifth in 30 to 34 Male in 2:33:34, with Marco Toijanen placing 15th in 3:02:14 and Nick Varey 28th in 3:33:06.
Rua Reid of Squamish was first in 40 to 44 Female in 3:04:43.
Matteo Abel of Squamish was second in 40 to 44 Male in 2:24:17. In the same category, Carl Goldstraw of Squamish was fourth in 2:30:31.
The final race was the Specialized Super D, which is basically a technical downhill with some uphill sections.
From Squamish, Fraser Newton was fifth in 30 to 39 men in 28:09.38.
Whistler's Katrina Strand placed first in 30 to 39 Women in 32:22.61.
Dylan Wolsky of Whistler was second in Elite Men in 23:11.07.
Megan Rose was first in Elite Women in 31:48.35.
In the overall standings after three events, Megan Rose and Katrina Strand were second and third among the female racers.
For more results visit www.northshorebikefest.com.