There was a solid turnout for the inaugural high school mountain bike race at Porter Creek Secondary School on Wednesday.
Picking up on the momentum of last year’s races, the first race of the series attracted 30 riders in three divisions (Grade 8, Grades 9/10 and Grades 11/12).
“This is much better than last year, there’s a lot of people here and they all know what to do, and they roll right into it,” said Manon Aubert, a teacher from Ecole Emilie Tremblay who helped get the race series off the ground.
She was pleased to see the 16 Grade 8 racers who made up the largest division.
Those racers had to complete three laps of a roughly three-kilometre course, which included some muddy sections, a root-entangled downhill, and a steep uphill just before the finish line.
The 9/10s rode four laps, and the 11/12s did six.
FH Collins riders swept the categories, with Logan Roots finishing first in the Grade 8 division, Logan Kleedehn taking the top spot in the 9/10 and Team Yukon mountain bike racer Troy Henry easily taking the 11/12 division.
Casey Lane, the only girl to enter the race, won the open girls’ category for FH Collins as well.
Vanier’s Doug Ponsioen kept up last year’s tradition of riding the series on a BMX bike, tackling the hills with a single gear.
“I’m never going to start riding a mountain bike,” said a mud-spattered Ponsioen after the race. “I love a challenge.”
All four high schools had riders in competition, but Aubert would like to see more involved, especially girls.
“It will increase, I’m sure,” said Aubert after the race. “The word’s going to come out tomorrow, and next week the numbers will be higher and usually the third race is really popular. We need more girls though; last year we had three or four.”
Ecole Emilie Tremblay will host the second race in the series, next Wednesday at Mount McIntyre.
The third race will be held by Vanier Catholic Secondary, and a new development this year is the fourth and final championship race, which will be hosted by the RCMP and FH Collins on October 4th at a location to be determined.
Results: (name, school, points)
Grade 8
1st Logan Roots, FHC, 10
2nd Adrian Hawkings, FHC, 8
3rd Trevor Hanna, FHC, 6
4th Jack Lanigan, PCSS, 4
5th Tyler Wynnyk, VCSS, 2
6th Jake Jacobs, VCSS, 2
7th Kyle Bowers, FHC, 2
8th Jonathan Brooks, FHC, 2
9th Nicholas Tevry, FHC, 2
10th Richard Schwok, PCSS, 2
11th Puneet Toor, VCSS, 2
12th Massey Baker, PCSS, 2
13th Nolan Petterson, FHC, 2
14th Steven Harlow, VCSS, 2
15th Alex Simmons, FHC, 2
16th Jonathan Brooks, FHC, 2
Grade 9/10
1st Logan Kleedehn, FHC, 10
2nd Nathan O’Grady, FHC, 8
3rd Alexander Chisholme, PCSS, 6
4th Matt Pare, VCSS, 4
5th Maxime Baril-Blouin, EET, 2
6th Marshall Michaud, EET, 2
7th Korby Gendron, VCSS, DNF
Grade 11/12
1st Troy Henry, FHC, 10
2nd Ryan McLaren, PCSS, 8
3rd Brendan Zrum, PCSS, 6
4th Olivier Roy-Jauvin, EET, 4
5th Ben Seifert, FHC, 2
6th Doug Ponsioen, VCSS, 2
7th Connor Nugent, VCSS, 2
Open girls
1st Casey Lane, FHC, 10