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Guthrie and Batty take wins at the 2016 Hardwood Canada Cup

The fourth round of the national series had exciting racing as riders prepare for worlds

Emily Batty and Evan Guthrie capped off an exciting weekend of racing at the Trek Store Canada Cup with win’s in the elite races. The race held at Hardwood Ski and Bike continued to be a stalwart on the Canada Cup circuit with several events for kids and families over the course of the week. With a modified course that catered to the diverse set of racers and riders that participated in the weekend of cycling just north of the GTA.

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Race day was windy but pleasant, after rain the Friday and Saturday made for a very tacky track. The elite course was made slightly easier with several of the steep climbs from the Pan-Am course removed with added flat but the rooty singletrack offered little extra reprieve. As with past years, the Hardwood track challenged riders to overcome steep climbs while mustering the focus to clean multiple technical drops, descents and rock-obstacles.

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The junior expert women had another competitive race with the top 10 riders only separated by 5 minutes and the top two riders, Emily Handford and Dana Gilligan sprinting to the line only separated by 4 seconds.

In the junior expert men’s field, Quinton Disera continued his dominance, winning his third straight Canada Cup at Hardwood. His win at Tremblant secured his World Championships spot. Disera is chased closely in the overall, and on the day by Sean Fincham, Félix Longpré and Trek’s Tyler Orschel.

Disera’s brother Peter, was last weekend’s winner in the elite men’s field at Horseshoe Resort, however an early mechanical saw him falling well back into the twenties as his Norco Teammate, Evan Guthrie rode off the front of the field early, holding his lead over Olympic hopefuls, Derek Zandstra and Evan McNeelly through the entirety of the six lap race. Davis Ross continued his climb up the elite ranks with another podium in fifth, while Peter Disera’s fourth place finish was toted as the most exciting ride of the day.

The elite women’s race was won for the second week in a row by Emily Batty, who also won the Pan-Am Games on a similar course at Hardwood Ski and Bike last summer. Quebec’s Cindy Montambault and Jena Greaser of the U.S. completed the podium.

A break awaits many of the racers before the Ontario Cup resumes at Albion Hills on July 10 and the national circuit resumes for Canadian national championships in Baie Saint Paul on July 14 to 17. Several of the top racers from the junior and elite fields will attend the early World Championships in two weeks time from June 29 to July 3rd in the Czech Republic.

For full results see ontariocycling.org

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