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Yukoners top four of five Tour de Skagway divisions

If not for three Alaskan cyclists, Yukoners would have swept the board at the second annual Tour de Skagway over the weekend.
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If not for three Alaskan cyclists, Yukoners would have swept the board at the second annual Tour de Skagway over the weekend.

Yukon cyclists came up short in the expert men’s division in the two-day, three-stage event hosted by the U Kon Echelon cycling club.

Juneau’s Casey Colten took the win, ahead of Juneau’s Will Coleman in second and Skagway’s Spenser Morgan in third. Whitehorse’s Shea Hoffman put the territory on the board with a fourth-place finish for expert men.

“It was fantastic. You guys provided us with wonderful weather,” said Colten. “It’s hard to pick a favourite (stage). The scenery was spectacular for every single event.”

Colten placed first in the 20-kilometre time trial, second in the 84-kilometre road race and third in the 19-kilometre hill climb. Whitehorse’s David Gonda placed first in the road race and hill climb but didn’t race the time trial and was therefore ineligible for the overall tour title.

“I’m back from a long break,” said Colten. “I raced as a much younger man and now I’m in my early 50s and am getting back into the sport.”

“(Colten) has been super supportive of our club,” said U Kon Echelon director Trena Irving. “He’s donated two beautiful bike frames - a time trial frame and a road race frame. So I was really happy to see him there and get to know him better.”

U Kon Echelon club riders cleaned up in the other divisions.

Whitehorse’s Ava Irving-Staley claimed first place in under-13 girls in the tour.

Marsh Lake’s Cauis Taggart-Cox rode to first for under-13 boys, outpacing his brother Lucas in second.

Whitehorse’s David Jackson cycled to first in the sport men division with Malcolm Taggart in second.

Whitehorse’s Sara Burke-Forsyth won all three stages to top the sport women division.

“It was really hot and I got really sunburnt,” said the 19-year-old.

Sunday’s 19-kilometre hill climb in which cyclists ride from the Dyea Road intersection in Skagway to the White Pass Summit, climbing roughly 1,000-metres in altitude, is the stage that stands out for Burke-Forsyth - but not in a good way.

“The hill climb - it was so hot and hard and straight uphill,” said Burke-Forsyth. “It’s not fun. It’s exhausting.

“Since I used to be in running and (Athletics Yukon coach Don White) is really into pacing, I do know how to pace myself and that’s probably why I did well.”

“Climbing that hill is brutal - there are no ifs, ands or buts about it,” said Irving, who placed second for women in the tour. “It’s probably the hardest ride in the Yukon-Alaska area.”

The second annual tour saw a bit of growth from the inaugural event. The time trial went from 13 up to 17, the road race went from 20 down to 18, but the hill climb jumped from 15 to 27.

There was also a good turnout of spectators, if you count bears. Saturday afternoon’s road race was viewed by a momma black bear and her three cubs.

“The interesting part about that loop was there was a sow with three cubs,” said Irving. “So at one part one of the moms was on her bike going along and she said, ‘You guys better stick together because that sow kind of came out after me a little bit.’ People kept stopping and taking pictures and the sow was getting growly and put her cubs up a tree.”

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com

Results

Time Trial

Youth (10 km)

1st Lucas Taggart-Cox

(U13 boys) - 25:65

2nd Cauis Taggart-Cox

(U13 boys) - 26:03

3rd Oscar Settington

(U13 boys) - 28:13

1st Ava Irving-Staley

(U13 girls) - 32:55

1st Tristan Muir

(U15 boys/20 km) - 45:03

Expert men (20 km)

1st Casey Colten - 30:37

2nd Will Coleman - 34:31

3rd Spenser Morgan - 34:20

4th Shea Hoffman - 36:24

Sport men (20 km)

1st Dave Jackson - 42:34

2nd Mike Settington - 42:58

3rd Malcolm Taggart - 45:08

4th Andy Muir - 48:59

Sport women (20 km)

1st Sara Burke-Forsyth - 43:13

2nd Alison Morham - 44:21

3rd Trena Irving - 44:54

4th Jody Cox - 46:40

Road Race

Youth (24 km)

1st Cauis Taggart-Cox

(U13 boys) - 55:32

2nd Lucas Taggart-Cox

(U13 boys) - 1:03:22

1st Ava Irving-Staley

(U13 girls) - 1:12:49

2nd Isla Hupe

(U13 girls) - 1:19:48

Expert men (84 km)

1st David Gonda - 2:29:18

2nd Casey Colten - 2:34:29

3rd Spenser Morgan - 2:36:09

4th Will Coleman - 2:45:42

5th John Thompson - 3:03:01

6th Shea Hoffman - 3:03:32

7th Bill Parry - 3:04:01

Sport women (60 km)

1st Sara Burke Forsyth - 2:26:10

2nd Trena Irving - 2:29:04

3rd Jody Cox - 2:36:40

4th Simi Morrison - 2:44:33

Sport men (60 km)

1st Malcolm Taggart - 2:27:59

2nd Andy Muir - 2:31:41

3rd David Jackson - 2:35:30

Hill climb

Youth (19 km)

1st Cauis Taggart-Cox

(U13 boys) - 1:22:28

2nd Lucas Taggart-Cox

(U13 boys) - 1:42:33

3rd Oscar Settington

(U13 boys) - 1:42:38

1st Micah Taggart-Cox

(U15 boys) - 1:31:38

Tristan Muir

(U15 boys) - DNF

1st Ava Irving-Staley

(U13 girls/16 km) - 1:11:09

Expert men (19 km)

1st David Gonda - 52:42

2nd Elijah Buffalo - 54:25

3rd Casey Colten - 58:24

4th Spenser Morgan - 1:00:27

5th Marcus Watereus - 1:01:18

6th Derrick Hynes - 1:02:24

7th Preston Blackie - 1:02:51

8th Will Coleman - 1:04:37

9th Bill Slater - 1:05:30

10th Shea Hoffman - 1:07:39

11th Rod Savoie - 1:09:51

12th Phil Hoffman - 1:19:38

Sport men (19 km)

1st David Jackson - 1:24:23

2nd Mike Settington - 1:27:07

3rd Malcolm Taggart - 1:34:46

Sport women (19 km)

1st Sara Burke Forsyth - 1:23:25

2nd Alison Morham - 1:31:36

3rd Simi Morrison - 1:35:38

4th Sandy Birrell - 1:35:38:01

5th Trena Irving - 1:42:16

6th Jody Cox - 1:49:24