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Reams takes warm up 'crit' before Tour

Before his triumphant run in the expert men's class of the Tour de Whitehorse over the weekend, Yukon's Jesse Reams gave his competition a taste of things to come in VeloNorth's Canada Day Criterium in downtown Whitehorse.
criterium

Before his triumphant run in the expert men’s class of the Tour de Whitehorse over the weekend, Yukon’s Jesse Reams gave his competition a taste of things to come in VeloNorth’s Canada Day Criterium in downtown Whitehorse.

“(Reams) lapped us twice, and we weren’t going too slow,” said expert men’s fourth-place finisher and VeloNorth president Scott Kerby. “He’s in a whole other class.”

Reams, who cycles for the Garneau Evolution cycling team out of Burnaby, BC, returned to his hometown for the weekend of racing and to visit family and friends. A former cyclist with Team Yukon at last year’s Canada Summer Games, Reams recently finished second in the U-23 division - ninth overall - at the Road National Championships in Edmonton the previous weekend.

Unlike races where the first over the finish line is the winner, a criterium’s outcome is determined by points accumulated during the race. In VeloNorth’s 25 minute ‘crit’ on Thursday there were five “preims”- little competitions for points within the race itself - awarding points to the first four cyclists to complete a lap.

Reams finished with 18 points, just three up from Whitehorse’s Troy Henry, who finished third in the Tour de Whitehorse.

“My strategy going in a race like that, where there’s only one or two guys who are really going to keep the pace, is ride a hard tempo,” said Reams. “When it comes down to a sprint - just go for it.”

“The strategy is to know when to conserve energy - so generally not being out in front all the time,” said Kerby. “So to be behind other riders until the bell (preim) lap.”

Unlike national-level criteriums, cyclists were not eliminated when lapped by other riders.

Results

Expert women

1st Jillian Chown (20pts)

2nd Nadele Flynn (15pts)

Expert men

1st Jesse Reams (18pts)

2nd Troy Henry (15pts)

3rd Darryl Hansell (8pts)

4th Scott Kerby (3pts)

5th Brian Macdonald

5th Lawrence Ignace

5th Ryan Burlingame

5th Jamie Bissell

Sport women

1st Kelsey Kabanak (20pts)

Sport men

1st Darren Holcolm (20pts)

2nd Tim Sellers (15pts)

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com