Home > News

Preview of the 2016 Canadian cross country championships

Batty, Smith, Walter, Gagné, Bouchard and Guthrie are riders to watch

Emily Batty races in the 2015 Canadian XCO championships
Emily Batty races in the 2015 Canadian XCO championships

The 2016 Canadian cross country championships will take place this weekend in the beautiful Charlevoix Region of Quebec. Known for hosting both road and mountain bike events for more than 15 years, Baie-Saint-Paul will hold its first national championships for mountain bike. The course has been a mainstay on the Canada Cup circuit for many years, most often opening the series with a muddy and technical challenge for riders.

The elite cross country races will happen on Saturday. The course remains similar to the past years’ Canada Cups with some trail work done to improve the course’s ability to handle rain. A drop described by many riders and coaches as “sketchy” has been unofficially removed at the time of writing. Beyond this drop, the course is setup very well and will be challenging for even the top riders to clear full laps without mistake as recovery is very short and line choice constant.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BH5G7obAVYa/

For the women, one of the two headed to the Rio Olympics will be at nationals. Catherine Pendrel has elected to return home to British Columbia to recover from the first part of the season and prepare for the Olympics. “I have had to choose between getting home to do a good training block and giving up the national champion title,” she said. “It is a tough one. I love being national champ, but I only get the chance to get the Olympics right every four years. I want to be able to give my best in Rio.” Emily Batty, who is also going to Rio, will be in attendance looking to better Haley Smith, Sandra Walter and Cindy Montambault in the race for the national jersey.

For the elite men, both riders representing Canada at the Olympics, Raphaël Gagné and Léandre Bouchard, will ride Saturday. Bouchard was 20th at the World Cup in Switzerland recently, riding into the low teens before an untimely flat. Bouchard feels at home on the Baie-Saint-Paul course having had many of his breakthrough races there. He lists a win as a junior in 2010, his first national elite podium in 2011 and a tight second-place last year in Canada Cup as his notable achieves in the area. Both Bouchard and Gagné had been on the course earlier in the year and will thrive with the smaller group of starters at nationals. Looking to better the two Quebec-based Olympians will be a host of very capable riders including multi-time national champ Geoff Kabush and his Scott-3-Rox teammate Derek Zandstra. The Norco Factory Team also has three riders—Evan Guthrie, Evan McNeely and Andrew L’Esperance—who are threats for the win given their success on this course in previous years and also at a host of UCI events this year. Guthrie could prove to be a serious threat given his choice to stay home and train during the past few weeks rather than going to world championships.

Watch the Canadian Cycling Magazine‘s Twitter and Instagram  feeds on race day for updates from the 2016 Canadian cross country championships.