Miranda Miller, Kirk McDowall take top honours at the 2016 Canadian downhill mountain bike championships

Complete with a new, world-class track, the downhill mountain bike venue of Sun Peaks, B.C. was on display along with the prowess of some of the country’s top gravity riders on July 24, as the Canadian downhill mountain bike championships tore into the western Canadian terrain. With a range of categories competing, more than 230 athletes hit the precipitous, plunging descents of Sun Peaks with skill.

By the time competition had closed, it was the skill of two riders that had prevailed, representing the host province: Miranda Miller of Squamish, B.C., and from Anmore, Kirk McDowall, riding for Dunbar Cycles.

Miller’s win came with a finishing time of five minutes and 44.72 seconds, propelling the British Columbia rider to a successful defence of her elite women’s title after a qualifying round that saw her in fourth place. Taking the podium’s second position was Georgia Astle of Whistler, B.C., 3.17 seconds back, while Claire Buchar—another Whistler export—settled for third with a gap of a further 0.06 seconds back. The junior women’s category saw another Whistler, B.C. downhill specialist, Stephanie Denroche of C4 Rider Training Inc., take top honours.

After the event’s conclusion, Miller reflected on the course and the competition. “The track was pretty good and long, which I like,” she said. “It was getting pretty blown out towards the end of the weekend, so I took it a little more cautiously.” After offering her thanks to the organizers, the new track, she mentioned, “was pretty sick.”

The elite men’s competition was another highlight.

After posting the only qualifying time short of five minutes, Kirk McDowall was certainly the day’s fastest elite male rider in the leadup to the event. McDowall’s win came with a time just half a second faster than that of Mark Wallace of Devinci Global Racing. McDowall clocked in atfour minutes and 55.03 seconds. Wallace, on the other hand, finished 0.59 seconds behind to take silver, while Mark Scharf of Skookum Cycle and Ski Ltd., representing Salmon Arm, B.C., finished with bronze more than eight seconds behind McDowall. For the junior men, finally, Finnely Iles of Specialized Gravity p/b SRAM turned some serious heads at the competition, clocking a time that would have seen him take third on the elite men’s podium.

Looking back, McDowall noted the unique and difficult challenge of it all—something that made all the difference. “I was saying that it was probably the hardest run I’ve ever done,” he said. “It started off pretty wild, but I knew that I had to dial it back and settle down for the bottom section. I’m hoping this opens up the option for me to go to worlds. I’m really stoked about the new track; it’s pretty awesome.”