Alexandre Vialle doubles up as XCM national champion
Vialle earns back-to-back XC Marathon titles in Saint-Félicien while Heather Gray wins women's title
Alexandre Vialle stayed ahead of Kona’s Cory Wallace to defend his Canadian XC Marathon national title over the weekend. Heather Gray won the women’s elite title in Saint-Félicien.
The XCM championships returned to Saint-Félicien, Que. for a second year. Vialle was again the men’s elite winner, defending the title he earned at the venue in 2017. His time of two hours 49 minutes and 55 seconds was 1 minute 21 seconds faster than Wallace in second.
Vialle beat Jasper, Alta.’s endurance specialist Cory Wallace to earn his second national championship. Wallace, the reigning 24-Hour mountain bike world champion, had returned to Quebec from Norway to contest the race. The Kona rider had been in Scandinavia for the Skaidi Xtreme Hammerfest and the Birken endurance mountain bike events.
Rounding out the podium at Canadian XC Martahon national championships was Félix Belhumeur. The Pivot Cycles-OTE racer earned bronze at Saint-Félicien. In an odd bit of symmetry, Belhumeur finished one minute 21 seconds behind Wallace.
The women’s XC marathon national championships was won by Heather Gray of Kanata. Gray had nearly half an hour advantage in her run at the XCM maple leaf jersey. In second place was Stéphanie Collard of Jonquière, racing for the Acidose Lactique team. Nadia Lecompte finished third, racing for Vélogamik.
Canadian cross country national championships were held as part of the Raid Boreal festival in Saint-Félicien. Vélo2Max hosted the event, including the 63 km championship race. The weekend also included shorter distances in the non-championship categories.
