Sea Otter Canada brings Enduro back to Ontario

Norco Canadian Enduro Series and EWS qualifying round returns to Blue Mountain

Terry McKall July 11, 2019

The first annual Sea Otter Canada is in the books, adding a big weekend of racing and solid crowds to the Ontario cycling calendar.

Closing out the weekend was Sunday’s Norco Canadian Enduro Series only Ontario stop. It was also Canada’s only Enduro World Series qualifier event in East of the Rockies.

NCES Blue Mountain Sea Otter Enduro — The Sea Otter Canada dual slalom finish line in the heart of the expo area. Photo: Colin Field

In its third year of racing at Blue Mountain Resort, NCES’s Sea Otter Canada stop featured six stages of timed descending. All together, the race served up 1,400 m of descending within the Resort area. Many of these trail are only open to the public during the race, making for an even more unique event.

One of the highlights of the new enduro course has to be the first stage finishing on the Dual Slalom course in the heart of Blue Mountain Resort expo area, one of three finish lines in the village area.

Norco Canadian Enduro Series Blue Mountain Resort Sea Otter Canada — Dean Thompson navigating “The Wall.” Photo: Colin Field

The other standout technical feature was “The Wall”. Blue Mountain’s steep pitch of gnarly roots challenged racers to maintain speed and control, if they wanted to make it down clean.

Pro Men and Women – NCES Sea Otter Canada enduro

Singhampton, Ont. local James Frost took the win in the pro men’s race, with Val-David’s Kayla Morin-Blanchette as the top pro woman.

Jacqueline Legare, a Red Bull Crashed Ice competitor from Paris, Ont. finished second behind Morin-Blanchette. The multi-talented Legare entered several Sea Otter Canada events throughout the weekend. Oshawa’s Kierstyn Hawke finished third.

Behind Frost was Chris Johnston, EWS pro and recent podium finisher at the 10th and final Trans Provence multi-day enduro. Didier Dogbout of Valleyfield rounded out the Pro Men’s podium in third.

Under-21 Men and Women – NCES Sea Otter Canada enduro

The under-21 women’s field was small, but fast. Chloe McKenzie not only won the category, but set the second fastest women’s time across all categories.

In the under-21 men’s race, Norco Canadian Enduro Team member Jacob Tooke took the win. The Vernon, B.C. riders blistering fast cumulative time of 17:26.oo would have been good for third behind Johnston in the pro men’s race. Collingwood, Ont’s Carson Webb rolled in second, while Kamloops, B.C.’s Jeremy Helly was third. Helly also earned the Officially-Unofficial King of Sea Otter title for racing in ever single dirt event.