Interview: Haley Smith and Andrew L’Esperance’s double maple day in Whitehorse

When Canadian XC Marathon nationals took place in Whitehorse over the weekend, it brought with it a long list of first. It was the first time the endurance cross country race was held since 2019. It was the first Canadian cycling championships in Yukon, or any Territory. It was also a first for Haley Smith and Andrew L’Esperance, who both earned their first elite national titles.

I caught up with the Maxxis Factory Racing duo to find out how the Whitehorse weekend played out.

CanadianMTB: First off, congratulations on your wins! The course in Whitehorse looked quite singletrack-heavy. Did that play into your race plans? And how did the wins play out for you?

Haley Smith: The course was very single-track heavy. I don’t know exact numbers, but probably about 90 per cent single track in total. And physical single track, too; my triceps were the most sore part of my body! It didn’t play into my race plan so much – I really just wanted to see if I could get a gap early and hold/grow it. That’s basically how the race ended up playing out.

Andrew L’Esperance: For this race, I was looking for a hard course to create separation. So, although on paper there wasn’t a lot of climbing and the trails weren’t crazy technical or anything, this course was very challenging. I think the key factors were the amount of tight singletrack that challenged your high-speed stick-handling type driving skills, the high-speed rough sections that beat up your body and then just the fact that you are doing 90 km of it.

I tried to make the race hard from the beginning and did an effort that was not far off an XCO start. I thought that within the field I was racing I likely had a strong start effort. I knew that if I could get out of sight, I would be able to ride the course fast in a way that suited my strengths. That’s what I did and it worked out, although it was tough as I didn’t have any real information on time gaps back, so I just held the throttle as wide open as I could right until the end.

You’ve both had a lot of success in your careers, but this is the first elite national title for both of you (first-ever for Andrew, and first elite for Haley). What does that mean to you? And what was it like winning those together on the same day?

HS: Yes, this is my first elite national title (I have one from U23 XCO). It’s cool to win the jersey, but it feels much more special that it was something we were able to do together. Marathon/endurance racing is enjoying quite a renaissance right now, and it’s something that Lespy and I pivoted into together. Getting to help lead the charge for Canada in this discipline with my teammate (and life partner) is a very special feeling.

AL: Yes, first-ever title for me. It honestly feels really good to do that. For the first time in my career I went into XCO, XCC and XCM National Champs this year believing that I had all the stuff to win on the day. It didn’t work out at home in Kentville, but I did have rides I was happy with and other riders had super good rides. It’s cool that XCM Nationals are back after a bit of a hiatus and that it lines up with the type of racing that we have been doing with Maxxis Factory Racing. It is extremely special to win those titles on the same day with my wife and best friend, Haley. In hindsight, we probably should have kissed on the podium to celebrate, maybe next time, ahah.

You both raced XCM world championships recently. How does the Euro XCM scene and course compare to what’s going on here in North America?

HS: From what I know, the XCM Worlds course was an outlier amongst other UCI marathons. Glasgow was really technical and very natural – lots of single track and heavy descending. XCM Nationals had more single track, but a similar degree of physicality. More rocks and roots at Nationals, and less fall line trail.

AL: XCM World Champs was actually our first one-day UCI Marathon race we have ever done, so we really just have that one experience to speak on. We have done plenty of international marathon stage racing (BeMC, Swiss Epic, Epic Israel, etc.) but the race dynamics are different on a one-day race.

The main difference is the depth, in a lead group of a marathon MTB race in North America there might be 3-5 people that can really make that initial split. At XCM Worlds, there were 20-25 riders in the men’s lead group. That resulted in a relentless battle for positioning into the singletrack and an endless cycle of chasing if you are out of position. It’s always going to be a bit different depending on the course, but that’s how things played out for the first half of the race at Worlds until a smaller group fully got away.

There are some great long events with good technical MTB in North America like Whiskey 50, BC Bike Race, and all the events that were packaged in the Singletrack Series. I think we are at a very interesting spot both in North America and on the Euro scene. I hope to see the Singletrack Series grow in profile and I am really looking forward to getting to more of those events. On the euro XCM side of things, we have the Marathon World Cup going on which I hope to see evolve into more singletrack-heavy technical events. If you look at the UCI’s involvement in gravel, it only makes sense to make sure there is a really differentiation between XCM and gravel and one way to do that would be to make the mountain bike racing more mountain bike-y. We also have XCM World Champs coming to Snowshoe, W.Va next year, so that will be very interesting too.

Will we see either of you racing in the maple leaf kit at more events soon? Either this year or next?

HS: Hopefully! I’ll be racing the XCM World Cup in Snowshoe at the end of the month, and then we will also be wearing the jerseys at North American (non-UCI) marathon mtb events.

AL: Yes, I will be racing two more marathon-length MTB races this season, Chequamegon and Little Sugar MTB. These are obviously not UCI MTB races, but they do fall within the UCI’s definition of a marathon, 60-160 km in length, so I will likely wear the jersey. I am looking forward to representing the jersey as best I can on the international scene next year. You will hopefully see me at some Marathon World Cups and more MTB events in North America.

You both spent a bit more time in the Yukon before the race. Other than winning the national titles, what stood out the most about your trip to the north?

HS: The North was incredibly cool. They’ve got a good thing going up there. The XC trails (and the access to them from the town centre) are incredible, and the riding community is very unique and special. I don’t know if I’d be tough enough to live through Yukon winters, but I would 10/10 recommend those interested in XC trails and beautiful natural spaces to put the Yukon on their bucket lists.

AL: The kindness and generosity of the people and the amazing trails were the highlights of the trip to the Yukon. No matter who we came across, whether they were in the cycling community, they knew us or were complete strangers, everyone seemed to have time to talk and help out. The people living in Whitehorse and the Yukon seem to have an immense amount of pride about where they live and they share that with you.

We really only scratched the surface for trails and terrain on our trip, there is so much more and we will have to figure out a way to get back to explore more. We actually are putting together a film with our sponsor Stan’s NoTubes to share more about the whole experience in the Yukon, so keep an eye out for that.