Catharine Pendrel updates fans on injury status, new junior scholarship
Olympian's humerus may be broken, but her sense of humour is intact and she's still training for worlds
Canada’s cross country mountain bike Olympic medallist Catharine Pendrel posted a video today updating fans on the status of her injury, and offering to answer questions about how she deals with an injury like this in the middle of training season.
Pendrel, who broke her left humerus while training at home in Kamloops, B.C., details her rather unique training set-up in the video. The modifications to her bike and support apparatus are designed to remove stress from the broken bone in order to let the two time world champion keep training for this year’s world championships in Lenzerhide, Switzerland in September.
While her sights remain set on delivering her best possible performance at worlds, Pendrel will miss the next two World Cup rounds while recovering from her injury. World Cup racing resumes in Val di Sole, Italy on July 6, and continues the following week in Vallnord, Andorra. At this point, Pendrel says it is unclear whether she will be healthy enough to return to racing when the World Cup visits Canada for the Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que. stop, which runs from 10-12 of August.
The 2018 season started strong for the Clif Pro Team athlete, who finished 7th at the opening World Cup round in Stellenbosch, South Africa after riding in podium position for much of the race. At the latest World Cup, Pendrel’s first lap flat tire derailed her chances of a top finish, but the role model racer found a positive in her mechanical misfortune when she was able to race with long-time friend Sandra Walter (Live Canada) as Walter rode to one of her top World Cup performances to date.
Pendrel also announced a new scholarship for youth mountain bikers, the Catharine Pendrel Scholarship with the XCO MTB Canadian championships. The Catharine Pendrel Scholarship will provide funds up to two Canadian junior mountain bike athletes between the ages of 17-19, and will be announced at the XCO MTB Canadian championships. This year, XCO mountain bike nationals take place in Canmore, Alta. on July 19-22. Details on the new scholarship, including how to apply, can be found here.
Between this new scholarship and her support of her and her husbands Pendrel Racing project, whatever the source of the Kamloops’ racer’s recent spat of bad luck is, it sure isn’t Karma.
Pendrel’s original post about her injury shows an X-Ray of the broken humerus, if you scroll to the right:
