Check back for results following the race.

Race report courtesy of Dave Watson.

 

Overall, Saskatoon, 2008 was a very good weekend. We arrived early enough on Saturday to warm up properly for the opening 8.2km TT. The weather was good that evening. Kevin's wheel moved on him when he started and was rubbing against his chain stay for the whole race. He was wondering why it was so hard and discovered the source of the extra wattage. I was pleasantly surprised to do a 12'11 for 6th place in CAT 3. On Sunday, the road race in Cudworth started off into a straight headwind south with a few good surges and the now traditional, pee break after 20 km. I went off the front briefly with an ERTC guy, but we were reeled in quickly. The pack stayed together for around 80 km, when a good attack shattered the field. Kevin rode a very solid race and finished with the main pack. Only a few guys were working to chase down the mainly Bike Doctor break away group, which stayed away for the remainder of the race. I was a victim of the sprinting into the crosswind, and rode in with the 2nd group a few minutes back. After the road race, Kevin was 15th GC and I was 17th. On Monday, the Crit was quite sketchy the 1st few laps and Kevin, who was in good position near the front, followed the wrong guy around the tight second corner who crashed right in front of him and took Kevin out of the action. I hung on for the nearly 1 hour long session of hammering out of every corner and my hands going numb from hanging on so tight through all of the charming Saskatoon potholes. I managed to move up 1 place to finish in the middle of the field with a 16th GC.

 

Tara Whitten had a great weekend including a first in the ITT, a first in the RR and the overall win of the Women's A category.  Maryann Heacock placed 13th in ITT, 12th in Road Race, and 6th Overall in Women's B. Dan Rosichuk also had a strong showing with solid 3rd place showings in both the ITT and the Criterium, where Roger coached him to keep the pressure on. Dan wound up second overall in the U17 Omnium.  Ryan Petersen, had a solid ITT and RR, was second in the Criterium and wound up winning the overall Omnium in Cat 5.  Geoff Rackette had a strong RR and was first in the ITT and wound third in the GC for Cat 5.  Perry Dalmer also raced the ITT on Saturday in pretty stiff conditions.  Dave Watson raced in Cat 3 and had a solid RR performance, finishing with the pack and with all the Juniors, the Cat 3  race proved to be quite frisky.

 

Results

Results from the Provincial Individual Time Trial Championship are in.  While there was some confusion after the race as to the actual times, the relative placing of the racers appeared to be correct and are consistent with what got posted on the ABA website.

 

There was strong Velocity representation with Dan Rosichuk, Tara Whitten, George Berry, Dave Watson, Ed Heacock and Geoff Rackette competing.

 

Congratulations to the following medal winners:

Tara Whitten won Gold in the Women's Open Category

Dan Rosichuk won Bronze in U17 Men

Ed Heacock won Silver Masters C

Geoff Rackette won Bronze in Category 5

Congratulations to Ed Heacock who is the 2008 Masters C Provincial Champion while Dave Watson came third with the same time.  Ed was on a solo breakaway for around 50 km and was still able to recover and win after an impressive solo effort. Ed noted that Velocity team work had a lot to do with his win.  

 

Curtis Roper had a strong showing in the Masters B race with a top ten finish, and both Kevin Coghlan and Paul Ermantrout had strong days out but spent all of their energy in an ultimately unsuuccessful attempt to reel in the early break. Shane Rush was originally in the breakaway, but had some cramping and had to pull out.

 

Anna did the Women's A race,

Three riders represented Velocitty at the Provincial Hill Climb in Banff. As a club Velocity couldn't be beaten on a medal to racer ratio.

 

Ed Heacock - Masters C Gold - 15'36

 

Dave Watson - Masters C Silver - 15'46

 

Geoff Rackette - Cat 5 Bronze - 16'50

 

Master C Podium - Pic1 - Pic2

 

Cat 5 Podium - Pic1 - Pic2

Well, I have been home about a week and thought that I would report on Track Nationals that were held in Burnaby.

 

I went down mainly to watch Tara race and I have to say it was a satisfying meet in that regard. First race for Tara was the sprints on the thursday. Last year Tara was the gold medal winner. This year would prove to be a bigger challange as Tara was up against Monique Sullivan in the finas and Monique is a sprint specialist. Tara took Monique long in the first sprint and won. Second sprint went to Monique and then the third sprint was also won by Monique, but it was very close! Silver medal for Tara.

Next up was the points race on the Friday. Good field including Gina Grain who just finished top ten at the Olympics. Tara rode very well in this race, both speed wise and tactically. It really was a pleasure to watch as Tara and Gina were close in points throughout the race. In the end Tara won the gold medal. I think the final points were 50 to 47  for Tara over Gina.

Pursuit was the next event on Saturday morning and Tara had a couple of good rides, posting the top time (3:48 and change both times) to win the gold medal.

Quickly following the pursuit was the 500m final. Tara rode a personal best time to take home the bronze medal. Remarkable since she had just finished the pursuit an hour or so before the 500.

Last race for a national medal for the women was the scratch race. Good race again. Steph Rhoorda and a girl from Quebec (I think) got away for a lap. Tara tried to chase them down but was not getting any help from the field. In the end Tara broke away from the field with 7 or 8 laps to go and stayed away for third place.

 

So five events for Tara, 2 gold medals, a silver and two bronze! Good racing! Congratulations Tara on another fantastic showing!

Alexandra took a second, Raine took a fourth, Jared placed second, Calvin M. took a second, Brad finished in first ,Ryan took a sixth, Ronald took a fourth in 20" and finished first in cruiser, Robbie didn't make his main in 20" but finished fifth in cruiser, Neil took a second in 20" and finished first in cruiser, Allen end up with second place points in his 45+ class.

 

Good job everyone I know not all of you did as well as you would have liked but the track was short and tight and there still is a whole season to better our selves.

Junior Elite: Paula Findlay - was in great position to win, but flatted on the bike, rode the last 5k on a flat rim dropping from 2nd to about 40th and still managed a 9th place finish.  Incredible.  This is a drafting race.

 

Age Group:

Kurt Woytiuk (25-29) - 5th

Jason Britton (25-29) - 73rd

Teresa Sturgess - DNF (puncture)

Austin Horn (20-24) - 26th

 

 

Paula Findlay: Paula competed in the Elite Junior Female triathlon on Saturday, where she finished first. On Sunday she competed in the Women's Elite National Championships where she again placed first. Junior Elite champion, U23 Women's Elite National Champion, & Women's Elite National Champion. Not a bad weekend's work!

 

Teresa Sturgess: Teresa was first overall in her age category for the Sprint Distance and 4th overall out of 133 competitors that raced age category in the Sprint.

 

Kurt Woytiuk: Kurt competed in the Men's Elite National Championship but was unable to hook up with a group on the bike leg and was lapped on the short bike course.

 

Rob Stirling & Pat Lavender: Rob & Pat competed in, and both completed, the big one - no small feat in and of itself! Rob had an outstanding swim, posting the second fastest swim split in his division and 25th fastest out of the complete field of 2211 competitors - beating many of the Pros! Rob finished 154th of 315 in his division and 752nd overall with a time of 12:04:58. Pat finished 13th of 18 in her division and 2023 overall with a time of 16:40:22.

After a break away from triathlon Tiana Leonty competed in the Alberta Challenge (sprint) at Miquelon Lake, where she place 2nd of 16 in her age group.

Tiana Leonty placed 4th of 24 in her age group.

Tiana Leonty raced in the Sandy Beach Duathlon last weekend. Official results aren't posted yet but she had an excelent opening run, a good ride in tough windy conditions, and a good race overall.

Pic1 - Pic2 - Pic3 - Pic4

Congratulations again to Sian Barraclough who won her first race sporting her new National Champion jersey.

 

Also competing on Sunday were Todd Barraclough, Shane Rush, and Samantha Lam.

Congratulations to Sian Barraclough, 2008 Canadian National Cyclo-cross Champion - Women 30+

Pic 1 - Pic 2 - Pic 3 - Pic 4 - Pic 5 - Pic 6

 

Todd Barraclough raced in the Master Men 30-39 category where he placed 8th. Shane Rush raced in the Master Men 40-49 category where he placed 14th.

The Velo club had good representation at the opening event of the cyclocross season, the GP Champion City. Lawrence Lam (pic1, pic2) raced in the Sport category, Shane Rush (pic1, pic2, pic3) and Todd Barraclough (pic1, pic2, pic3) raced Expert, and Maryann Heacock and Sian Barraclough raced in the Women's category.

 

 

Hi all the cross season is going fast and furious, with already 4 races down and 2 more till nationals. A quick note the Barraclough family raced in Calgary over the past weekend and had a good time on some very hard technical courses.  The Beans and Barley was a standout race with great food and beer and a fabulous course layout. Todd finished 2nd in Expert on the Saturday while Sian finished a very impressive 8th in the Elite women's field( one of the fastest mother of 2 in cross),  Sunday proved to be a little more humbling a 5th for Todd and a Fantastic crash for Sian that lead to her first ever DNF.  However she was able to get back on the bike the next day so things are looking up for Nationals.