VIDEO – They came, they rode, they conquered and then they were gone. By 9 am the morning after the race there was no trace that over 500 people had tented out on Willingdon Beach or that the area played host to stage three of one of the largest mountain bike events in the province.
Wayne Brewer is a local organizer of the race and a volunteer trail-builder with Powell River Cycling Association (PRCA).
“I constantly heard that the riders were impressed with our trails,” said Brewer. “Cindy [Stahl] was at the bottom of the first enduro race, and she said the word most riders said when they came out at the bottom was ‘awesome.’”
Graeme Street, an elite rider from Connecticut, posted video logs for his performance on each day of the race. He commented that Powell River is “one of the most beautiful locations to start and finish a bike race.”
Street had been having a tough first two days on the race in Cumberland and Campbell River, but was impressed with Powell River’s trails.
“It’s probably the best single-track I’ve ever seen in my life,” he wrote. “It’s so ‘flowy’ and fast. I got my groove on, my legs kicked in and I had a smile on my face the whole time.”
The pack of elite racers finished the 48 kilometres of mixed single-track and gravel roads around Duck Lake in just over two hours. Brewer and cycling friends went out on Sunday morning, July 7, to ride the course and it took them a little more than four hours.
“[The elite riders] rode those trails at an average of 24 kilometres per hour,” he said.
Brewer commented that Andreas Hestler and Dean Payne, race organizers, were impressed with the work that had been done on the trails.
Brewer, Ron Diprose and the dedicated crew of local trail-builders have been working their way through the trails to improve them to standards set by the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA).
“The racers really appreciated the community welcome coming off the ferry,” said Brewer. “I also heard that Powell River had the most community volunteers of all the stages on the race. It’s something to be proud of.”
He has already started tweaking the course for next year’s race and banking some turns on the downhill courses to account for racers’ speed on the trail.
Mike McHugh, Powell River’s local rider in the race, was entered in the Masters solo category. The Peak caught up with McHugh as he made his way from the ferry to the start line at Willingdon Beach and he commented that up to that point the race had been challenging and he was looking forward to riding his home trails and sleeping in his own bed that night. McHugh finished in 85th place in his category out of 112 competitors, completing the stage in 4:16:49.
Early bird registrations for next year’s race opened up on Monday, July 8, and were sold out within minutes. In 2014 Powell River will be represented by at least three riders.
