Preview of the Canadian cyclocross championships

The annual guessing game that is the Canadian cyclocross championships is in full swing. It’s the one time of the year when the road and mountain bike disciplines truly intersect. Part of the fun is trying to figure out which riders are actually going to show up on race day and whether they’ll be on form.

This year’s event will be held this Saturday in Surrey, B.C. There is an added motivation for the top contenders: competing at nationals is mandatory to be selected for the world championships, which will be held in Louisville, Ky., in February. It’s the first time the Worlds has ever been held outside Europe, and represents a huge opportunity for Canadian cyclocrossers to take on the sport’s best on this side of the Atlantic. The selection criteria to the self-funded Canadian team aren’t very strict, but the one requirement is to do nationals.

Registration doesn’t close until Thursday so there isn’t a start list yet, but one thing has been confirmed: the 2011 champions in the elite women’s, elite men’s and under-23 men’s categories are all returning to defend their titles.

Elite Women

Olympic mountain biker Emily Batty (Team Subaru-Trek) is heading out west from her Brooklin, Ont., home a year after winning her first elite national title. She has a tough task ahead of her with a very strong group of riders from western Canada. One contender is five-time champ Wendy Simms (Frontrunners) of Nanaimo, B.C.,who skipped last year’s nationals in Toronto, but is making a return in her home province.

A few other names stand out as well. Mical Dyck (Stan’s No Tubes) from Victoria won bronze a year ago and finished a promising 11th at the Derby City Cup on the world championships course in Louisville Saturday. Also coming off a strong ride in Louisville (seventh place) is Edmonton native Pepper Harlton (Juventus), who was runner-up at the nationals in 2009 and 2011.

From eastern Canada, Ottawa’s two-time bronze medallist Natasha Elliott (The Cyclery) has made a strong return from illness and can be expected to vie for a podium spot.

But the most interesting likely entrant is 2011 world mountain bike champion Catharine Pendrel, who is planning on making the drive from Kamloops, B.C., to race—or at least cheer on her husband, Keith Wilson, in the masters event.

“My fitness won’t be top form, but it will be an adventure,” she said, noting that she’s only ridden her cyclocross bike three or four times after a very stressful Olympic season. “I think the woman to beat this year will be Pepper Harlton. It looks like she’s stepped it up this year.”

Pendrel isn’t new to cyclocross—she finished third at the 2010 nationals—and is looking forward to a challenging race, despite a course that looks fairly flat on paper.

“With a ’cross course you can never tell,” she said. “I’m sure it’ll be wet and slick and pretty technical from that standpoint.”

Under-23 Men

Ottawa’s Evan McNeely (Specialized Canada) has owned the under-23 category for the past two years; this year is his last opportunity to make it three. McNeely had a chance to stretch his legs in Louisville this past weekend, finishing 17th—and top Canadian—in the elite men’s race on Sunday. But he’s not taking anything for granted, pointing out there are several riders who will be pushing him this year. He lists Evan Guthrie of B.C. and Quebecker Jérémy Martin (both Rocky Mountain), Nova Scotia’s Andrew l’Esperance (Norco) and 2011 junior champion Johan Patry (Ekoï.com-Gaspésien) of Quebec among the likely contenders.

But with plenty of first-year under-23 riders flying under the radar, the start list in Surrey is likely to throw up some surprises

Junior Men

The junior men’s race is an even bigger crapshoot than the under-23 event. Riders are only in the junior category for two years. They seldom have the travel budget to cross the continent, so expect a field dominated by the western provinces, with the occasional easterner.

A couple of riders to look out for are B.C. champion Jordan Duncan and Alberta champion Isaac Niles.

Elite Men

Kamloops native Chris Sheppard (Rocky Mountain) has had a comfortable hold on the elite men’s title for the past two years, but he’ll be facing his stiffest competition yet with the return of two-time champion and mountain bike Olympian Geoff Kabush (Scott-3 Rox Racing). Kabush, of Courtenay, B.C., won the title in 2004 and 2009 and he’s set his sights on the world championships this season. To that end, he’s been plotting out his races carefully so far this season.

“I’m picking and choosing events that give me enough breaks to be motivated to go full gas at the ones I’m doing,” he said. “I’ve only done three races so far.”

It may not seem like much, but Kabush has had to shoehorn his ’cross between other mountain bike commitments, such as the Iceman Cometh Challenge in Traverse City, Mich., this past weekend, where he finished second.

“It’s been a bit of a crazy year for sure with all the travelling, but I’m still really enjoying the ’cross,” he said.

With more than two months between the Canadian championship and the worlds, Kabush even considered heading over to Europe to do a week of ‘cross racing—something he says is on his “bucket list”—but decided to nix that to focus on training at his base in New Mexico.

“I know I won’t have the best start position come Worlds—somewhere in mid pack,” he said. “But, it’ll be kind of nice to face the Euros on our home turf.”

Aside from Sheppard, podium contenders include 2008 champion Mike Garrigan (Stage Race-Blacksmith Cycle) of Ontario, Alberta’s Aaron Schooler (Norco)—who has taken home bronze the last four years—and 2009 runner-up Derrick St. John (Stevens Racing powered by The Cyclery) of Ottawa.

The Course

Vancouver-area ’cross racers will be familiar with the nationals venue at the South Surrey Athletic Park, but this is the first time it’s hosted a national championship.

“We’ve had B.C. Cups there the past few years,” said Kevin MacCuish, event manager for Cycling B.C. and the organizer of the event. “It’s an interesting venue. It offers some open stuff, some trails through the woods, some run-ups. There’s actually a small BMX park and we’ll use some of the tamer stuff there.”

Besides a hard-packed trail through the woods and many grassy corners, the 3.2-km course also features a flyover spanning a fence and a long, slightly uphill drag through the start/finish each lap.

A glance at the forecast shows steady rain through the weekend, but the firm ground in the park should keep the course from getting too muddy for Saturday’s championships.

“Maybe not so much a sloppy race, but a slippy race,” said MacCuish. “We’re not planning on dragging people through endless trips of mud.”

The racers won’t be entirely spared: the dirt jump section could become very muddy, but that will depend on just how steady the rain is in the coming days.

They’ll be able to find out during official training on the course from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday.

Spectators can look forward to a beer tent—located in a prime viewing spot next to the barriers—and food trucks on site. Besides the UCI championship categories, there’s a full slate of masters racing in the morning and a kids’ race in the middle of the day.

A slightly different course will be used on Sunday for the B.C. Grand Prix of Cyclo.cross, a UCI Category 2 event that will serve as a grudge match after the nationals. A shorter section through the woods will reduce the lap by about 500 m.

Don’t forget to tune in for our live coverage of the elite women/junior men’s race and the elite men/under-23 men’s race on Saturday.

Stats

All-time most wins

7 – Peter Wedge (elite men) 1997-2001, 2003, 2005

5 – Wendy Simms (elite women) 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010

Current favourites

Elite men:

Chris Sheppard – winner in 2011, 2010

Geoff Kabush – winner in 2009, 2004

Aaron Schooler – 3rd in 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008

Mike Garrigan – winner in 2007

Derrick St. John – 2nd in 2009

Elite women

Emily Batty – winner in 2011

Wendy Simms – winner in 2010, 2008, 2007, 2004, 2003

Pepper Harlton – 2nd in 2011, 2009

Natasha Elliott – 3rd in 2009, 2008

Under-23 men:

Evan McNeely – winner in 2011, 2010

Past Canadian Cyclocross Championships

Year	Location	Junior Men	Under-23 Men	Elite Women	Elite Men
2011	Toronto	1. Yohan Patry, Que. 2. Tommy Beaulieu, Alta. 3. Benjamin Perry, Ont.	1. Evan McNeely, Ont. 2. Jared Stafford, Ont. 3. Jeremy Martin, Que.	1. Emily Batty, Ont. 2. Pepper Harlton, Alta. 3. Mical Dyck, B.C.	1. Chris Sheppard, B.C. 2. Mark Batty, Ont. 3. Aaron Schooler, Alta.
2010	Toronto	1. Benjamin Perry, Ont. 2. Karl Hoppner, Ont.3. Felix Cote Bouvette, Que.	1. Evan McNeely, Ont. 2. Jared Stafford, Ont. 3. Garrett McLeod, N.S.	1. Wendy Simms, B.C. 2. Katy Curtis, Alta. 3. Catharine Pendrel, B.C.	1. Chris Sheppard, B.C. 2. Mike Garrigan, Ont. 3. Aaron Schooler, Alta.
2009	Edmonton	1. Kris Dahl, Alta. 2. Conor O’Brien, Ont. 3. Kiernan Orange, Que.	1. Evan Guthrie, B.C. 2. Simon Lambert-Lemay, Que. 3. Brian Robinson, Alta.	1. Alison Sydor, B.C. 2. Pepper Harlton, Alta. 3. Natasha Elliott, Ont.	1. Geoff Kabush, B.C. 2. Derrick St. John, Ont. 3. Aaron Schooler, Alta.
2008	Edmonton	1. Evan Guthrie, B.C. 2. Sebastian Sleep, B.C. 3. Kevin Thorpe, B.C.	1. Mike Bidniak, Alta. 2. Brian Robinson, Alta. 3. Andrew Thomas, Sask.	1. Wendy Simms, B.C. 2. Kelly Jones, B.C. 3. Natasha Elliott, Ont.	1. Mike Garrigan, Ont. 2. Geoff Kabush, B.C. 3. Aaron Schooler, Alta.
2007	Kamloops, B.C.	1. David Larson, Alta. 2. Evan Guthrie, B.C. 3. Alex Mccormick, Alta.	1. Mark Batty, Ont. 2. Kyle Douglas, Ont. 3. Brian Robinson, Alta.	1. Wendy Simms, B.C. 2. Alison Sydor, B.C. 3. Lyne Bessette, Que.	1. Mike Garrigan, Ont. 2. Greg Reain, Ont. 3. Max Plaxton, B.C.
2006	Nanaimo, B.C.	1. Spencer Smitheman, Alta. 2. Garrett McLeod, N.S. 3. David Larson, Alta.	1. Kyle Douglas, Ont. 2. Aaron Schooler, Alta. 3. Shaun Adamson, Alta.	1. Lyne Bessette, Que. 2. Wendy Simms, B.C. 3. Mical Dyck, Alta.	1. Greg Reain, Ont. 2. Geoff Kabush, B.C. 3. Mathieu Toulouse, Que.