Big rocks and new BC champions at Big White
Kelowna bike park hands out provincial champions jerseys on muddy day at Dunbar BC Cup race series
B.C.’s newest provincial champions had to find a bit of extra grit to earn their jersey’s when BC Cup / Dunbar Summer Series Downhill racing rolled into Big White.
While most visitors to the Okanagan were enjoying summer sun, at the summit of Big White’s bike park there was a tracing of snow still on the ground. The unexpected muddy conditions made for extra slick racing on the big slabs and rock strewn B.C. championships downhill course.
The event was the second stop on the BC Cup downhill series. Whistler Bike Park kicked off the series for 2019 the previous weekend. This year’s provincial championships are also part of the 10th year of Dunbar Summer Series racing.
Adam Woodhouse (C4 / Norco Racing) walks away with the elite men’s provincial championship title. Gracey Hemstreet set the fastest women’s time of the day, racing in the junior women’s category.
Behind Woodhouse, Brandon Douglas of Williams Lake finished second. Simon Tellier, Harry Head (Cube / Obsession Bikes) and Gabriel Neron rounded out the extended podium.
In the junior men’s race, Patrick Laffey (Devinci Development Racing / Gravity MTB) walked away with the junior men’s provincial title by an impressive margin. Laffey’s winning time was the fastest of the day, across all categories, by a full three seconds. That speed has since carried Laffey into a top-10 qualifying place at at Vallnord, Andorra World Cup.
Logan Merringer of Rossland, B.C. finished second in junior men. Travelling all the way from Cochrane, Alta., Dylan Fysh was third.
In the junior women’s race, Gracey Hemstreet of Sechelt, B.C. is the new provincial champion, and the fastest Woman on Big White. Just 14 years old, Hemstreet won by 30 seconds, in a time of 5:10.92. Emmy Lan (Gravity MTB / Trail Bicycles) was second and Madison Skrypnek of Squamish, B.C. third. Lily Boucher and Vanessa Bruneau round out the extended junior women’s podium.
In the under-17 men’s category, Jakob Jewett (Garibaldi Highlands) led North Vancouver’s Drew Mozell (Dunbar Cycles) and Jack Linnell (Pemberton).
Full Results from B.C. Downhill provincial championships can be found here.
The BC Cup downhill series continues on July 7 at Sun Peaks Resort in Kamloops. Dunbar Summer Series racing resumes at Kicking Horse Canada Cup DH in Golden on July 21.