Live blog: Silver Goose masters Pan Am championships and the elite UCI C2 races on Saturday

Tune in here on Saturday, Nov. 3 for coverage of the 2018 Pan Am cyclocross championships in Midland, Ont. at the Silver Goose. It’s the first time the Pan Am championships are in Canada and the inaugural edition of the masters championship races. On Saturday, the masters categories race for the continental title while the junior men and elites race a UCI C2 race. Sunday, the junior, under-23 and elites race for the Pan Am championship titles. The best cyclocross racers in the Americas are here. Follow along here throughout the day for live commentary, photos, interviews and analysis.

Click here to watch live coverage of the race and read our preview of the Pan Am championships with Ruby West, Maghalie Rochette and Michael van den Ham.

The Silver Goose strikes a pose

The first masters Pan Am champ

Patricia Konantz of Chelsea, Que., won the first masters jersey at the Pan Am championships. “I competed in 65 to 74. I don’t like to broadcast that too much. I don’t feel 65. I just had a birthday last Monday,” Konantz said. She plans to sport the jersey in Eastern Ontario Cyclocross Series.

The course

Course is nice and sloppy at @SilverGooseCX pic.twitter.com/zWZe4g11Pk

— Canadian Cycling Mag (@CanadianCycling) November 3, 2018

It’s a cold and damp day in Midland, Ont. and the racing is well underway. There are still a couple more masters races before the junior men then it’s time for the elite UCI C2 race.

Master men 55-64 podium

Don Seib won the master men category, 55-64, of the Pan Am cyclocross championships. Jonathan Card was second and our own Bob Bergman rounded out the podium in third.

Adam Myserson, Pan Am masters 45-54 champ

After Adam Myerson received his Pan Am championship jersey for the master men 45-55 category, he reflected on the race. “I was excited about this fair and balanced and challenging ‘cross course. It benefits someone who can drive very well,” Myerson said. The Boston rider led throughout the race. He let other riders actually catch up to him on the pavement during the first and second laps. That was a place he could recover, but he knew they’d have to work to get him. As the race went on, riders could get back to Myerson.

Myerson then had a long drive ahead of him. With his jersey in had, he was headed back to Massachusetts. He’s doing a UCI elite ‘cross race Sunday not far from his home.

Keeping things running smoothly

Race organizer John Hauser is quite hands on.

Gritty racing

The course during the elite men’s C2 race was a bit drier than earlier in the day, but still muddy enough to get in riders’ hair and even teeth.

Gage Hecht won the C2 race the day before the under-23 rider will compete in his Pan Am championship race. “There was a lot more group racing than I had anticipated,” he said of the tight bunch of riders that led early on, which also included Stephen Hyde, Michael van den Ham and Kerry Werner.

A Canadian bias detected during the women’s race

The elite women’s race winner, Ellen Noble, liked the crowd that was at the C2 race. “But they are so biased,” she joked. “I can tell I’m not racing in the U.S. In the U.S., there’s more “Go Elly!” In Midland, Ont., she get more muted “whoos” even for winning the race.

Moments later, Maghalie Rochette mirrored Noble’s observation. “The best part of the course is all the Canadians cheering and having the CX Fever,” Rochette said. “Every time I race with Ellen, we usually race in the U.S. When we’re together, they’re saying, “Go Ellen!” One out of 20 people are, “Go Mags!” But today it was the opposite. So it was cool.”