Canada Cup downhill racing returns to Sun Peaks Resort

Downhill racing is back at Sun Peaks for the first time in five years and returns to a coveted position on the calendar as the final Canada Cup downhill event of 2023. Riders are stoked to be back and racing is heated already after seeding. Saturday saw tight racing in several UCI categories, with Canada Cup overall titles on the line in a few.

Under-17 and juniors: racing for jerseys

Anthony Shelly led the under-17 men’s seeding round, putting down the fastest time by 8.18 seconds. Ryder Wilson is second, but with no u17’s breaking the five-minute mark, there is a lot of time on course to make up time on Sunday. Jack McCredie and Julian Moutinho, though, were locked right in step. McCredie finished in 5:18.6 with Moutinho at 5:18.7.

The junior women are tied for the Canada Cup overall, with Natasha Miller and Sophie Lawrence arriving at Sun Peaks with 180 points each. With Miller absent Jorja Macintosh is the closest to Lawrence, just 35 points behind the leaders when racing resumes on Sunday. On Saturday, it was Kate McKenzie setting the fastest junior women’s time, though, with a solid lead over Lawrence. Rebecca Beaton rolls into Sunday with the third-fastest time.

On the Junior Men’s side, Rosaire Watson and Logan Chapman are set up for a big battle on Sunday. Watson had the fastest junior men’s time, at 5:06.2, but Champan is just 0.6 seconds behind. Noah Rubuliak, enduro, cross country and occasionally track racer from nearby Kelowna, pulled out a 5:13.1 to seed third.

Elites: crashes and comebacks

Emmy Lan, another multi-talented racer, leads the elite women’s seeding results. Ainhoa Ijurko followed with the second-fastest women’s time. She’ll look to hold that result or move a spot up to defend her lead in the Canada Cup standings. Eva Leikermoser, the closest to Ijurko’s points total, seeded third at Sun Peaks.

The elite men’s seeding results delivered a few surprises. Patrick Laffey set the fastest time, and was the only rider to break the five-minute mark on Saturday. Laffey going fastest is no surprise, as he’s second in the Canada Cup standings after a big win at Kicking Horse last weekend. More interesting was the absence of Gabe Neron, the one rider ahead of Laffey. Neron crashed early in his run and destroyed a back wheel. Neron will be on the start line again tomorrow, though, to try defend his series lead.

In second place, though, was 2012 national champion Matt Beer. The enduro racer and Pinkbike regular looked to pick up right where he left off, seeding second fastest and just on the verge of breaking five minutes at 5:00.5. Squamish’s Haydyn Wynter rolled in with the third fastest time, just ahead of Ivan Hanchard.

At Canada Cups, there are no points attached to seeding but it does determine the start order for finals. With one last chance to earn points for the overall, racers will be looking for any advantage they can get for tomorrow. Sunday also sees the youth, masters and amateur categories join in racing.

Full seeding results from U17, junior and elite categories at Dunbar Summer Series #4 / Canada Cup.