Gallery: 2016 Canadian elite and under-23 women’s cyclocross championships

Maghalie Rochette rides to the elite women's title while Sidney McGill takes under-23 victory in Sherbrooke, Que.

Philippe Tremblay November 5, 2016

Defending champion Mical Dyck got the holeshot

Defending under-23 champion Ruby West leads Sidney McGill through a corner

Sandra Walter had a strong race finishing second

Ruby West

Maghalie Rochette celebrates her victory

Sandra Walker was very happy with second

Mical Dyck was unable to defend her title but finished on the podium in third

under-23 chamoion Sidney McGill

Maghalie Rochette had a fantastic race on her way to the elite women’s Canadian national championship title. The 23-year-old took the lead early and rode steadily at the front to extend her lead.

“It’s an honour to be racing at home because it’s pretty close from my house so a bunch of my family and friends were there,” said an ecstatic Rochette following her win. “The conditions were awesome, everything was super slippery, you had to be super careful. I had a clean race and I just kept focus the whole way.”

Rochette had a good race at last weekend CincyCX after a difficult start to her season suffering heatstroke in Rochester. Now recovered she put her good form to use in Sherbrooke where she was able to establish an early lead and extend it throughout the race.

In the battle for the under-23 title, Ruby West and Sidney McGill kept an eye on each other early exchanging the lead but never putting in a decisive move. The two marked each other for much of the first half of the race. The slippery course however, proved enough to finally separate the two with McGill taking the lead and the title from the defending champion. “The course was really, really tough and changed a lot from the pre-ride yesterday,” said McGill following the race.