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Emily Batty golden at Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games

Canadian Emily Batty raced to gold in the women's cross country mountain bike race at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games in front of a home crowd on Sunday. Batty has raced many times at Hardwood Hills—the venue for the competition—and was buoyed by legions of fans as she raced the five laps of the event.

Emily Batty

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Canadian Emily Batty raced to gold in the women’s cross country mountain bike race at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games in front of a home crowd on Sunday. Batty has raced many times at Hardwood Hills—the venue for the competition—and was buoyed by legions of fans as she raced the five laps of the event.

“Catharine and I knew we would be each other’s main competitors,” said Emily, after the finish. “She is the reigning world champion, and so that is never going to be easy. As long as her attacks don’t stick, you can try little punchy efforts and try to crack her. Fortunately for me, it happened on the last lap where it matters most.”

Batty and fellow Canadian Catharine Pendrel easily outpaced the rest of the field, opening up a minute lead by the end of the first lap. The two raced together trading the lead until the final kilometre when Batty was able to dig a little deeper to open up a small gap over Pendrel.

The two have raced head to head many times, including at this venue last year for the Canadian cross country championships, where Pendrel came out victorious.

Pendrel finished second overall, seven seconds behind Batty, who crossed the line in 1:27:13. Pendrel tried to shake Batty for most of the race. As reigning world champion, Pendrel was the favourite on paper, but fans know that the two racers are so closely matched now that either can win on any given day.

“My strength is early on in the race, and Emily’s strength is in the last lap, so I was trying to get out alone before the last lap,” said Pendrel. “Emily and I are really motivated by each other. We don’t want to be just the best in the race, but the best in the world and so we keep pushing each other.

“Probably around the third or fourth lap, we were seeing where each of us was strong and weak, and then start to make it hard for the other. It basically came down to a five-second burst.”

The bronze medal went to American Erin Huck. Hailing from Colorado, Huck raced as a privateer until the start of 2015 when she signed with Canadian Scott-3 Rox team. As a result, Huck has a strong Canadian following. Her start was strong, but she eased off before getting into the singletrack and dropped to sixth place. Over the next lap she climbed back into third place, and then worked to try to distance herself over the rest of the field.

Pendrel and Batty
Catharine Pendrel and Emily Batty celebrate at the line. Photo: Ruby Photo Studio

“I’d never been to this course before Thursday night,” said Huck, who raced with a minor injury after a crash in training. “My Scott-3 Rox teammate Derek Zandstra was able to help me pick some lines. It’s a really fun course once you get a feel for it.

“I had to wake myself up to claw my way back up after the start. It would have been nice to see how Catharine and Emily were riding sections. Once I saw I wasn’t going to catch them, I just settled in to ride.”

All around the course, fans in the thousands cheered their favourite riders. While the familiar “Go Emily Go” Canadian flag was not on display this year—special regulations prevented its use—Batty said she saw many friends and family she didn’t realize were even going to be on hand to watch.

“I had no idea it was going to be this amazing a turnout,” said Batty. “The whole course was lined with I don’t know how many thousands of people.”

Mexican Daniela Campuzano came into the event as the highest ranked rider after Pendrel and Batty. Though she briefly held third, she wasn’t able to match the pace of Huck and dropped down the order to finish fourth, a minute and a half behind Huck.

American Kate Courtney started strong and had been riding in third place early, but a flat caused her to drop well down the order. Even with the problems, she didn’t let up, riding the Boneshaker with a flat tire. With a new wheel, Courtney was only able to climb to a seventh place finish.

Canada has a really strong history of female mountain bike racers,” said Jacques Landry, high performance director for Cycling Canada. “Catharine and Emily continue to contribute to that reputation and both are looking really strong as we really focus in on the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.”

Pendrel and Batty
Pendrel leads Batty up a climb at Hardwood Ski and Bike during the Pan Am women’s XC event. Photo: Ruby Photo Studio

2015 Pan Am women’s cross country mountain bike race

Place Name Country Time Gap Average speed (km/h)
1 Emily Batty CAN 1:27:13 17.886
2 Catharine Pendrel CAN 1:27:20 +0:07 17.862
3 Erin Huck USA 1:32:36 +5:23 16.846
4 Daniela Campuzano MEX 1:34:11 +6:58 16.563
5 Raiza Goulao Henrique BRA 1:35:17 +8:04 16.372
6 Isabella Moreira Lacerda BRA 1:35:46 +8:33 16.289
7 Kate Courtney USA 1:36:20 +9:07 16.193
8 Angela Carolina Parra Sierra COL 1:38:21 +11:08 15.861
9 Yosiana Fareidy Quintero Pineda COL 1:39:43 +12:30 15.644
10 Laura Morfin MEX 1:40:18 +13:05 15.553
11 Alexandra Serrano Rodriguez ECU 1:44:07 +16:54 14.983
12 Adriana Rojas Cubero CRC 1:45:20 +18:07 14.81
13 Fernanda Castro CHI -1LAP
14 Michela Molina Arizaga ECU -2LAP
Agustina Maria Apaza ARG DNF
Alexandra Serrano Rodriguez ARG DNS
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