Four podium finishes proved 麻豆社国产downhill mountain bike riders dominate the Canadian circuit at the 2010 Mountain Bike Canadian Championships in Panorama Village, B.C. Sunday (July 11).
With three first place finishes and one second place finish, it was obvious 麻豆社国产downhill riders were the ones to beat.
U17 expert men's rider Jordan Gosteli finished first with a time of 3:44.39, more than five seconds ahead of his closest competitor Newfoundland rider Sheldon Smith.
The 16-year-old rider said it felt good to win even though he felt the race itself wasn't his best.
"It was actually a bad run, I didn't feel as fast or as clean as normal but I just went conservative, not messing up and no crashes," said Smith.
Gosteli said he felt out of sorts because his nerves were acting up - he was competing against many riders he didn't know.
"There were people from all around Canada [at Panorama], which was strange because you didn't know anything about them or how fast they were and the kind of stuff they were good at. I didn't know the skill or speed of everyone else but it feels like a lot of hard work paid off."
The pay off for Gosteli and other podium finishers includes a spot on the selection team that will represent Canada at the 2010 UCI World Mountain Biking Championships held in Quebec in early September.
Local rider Miranda Miller said the spot on the selection team was the whole point of her race, so she's pleased with her run even if she crashed in the seeding race and finished second in the women's elite category.
Miller said she lost precious time by having less than perfect exits out of the course turns.
"I just didn't have my shifting points down. The biggest thing I found with that course is it's a really fast, high speed and loose, super dusty. So it's all about how you exit out of things and I just didn't quite have the exits out of things that I wanted. It robs a lot of speed."
At the finish line, Miller was just over eight second behind the first place finisher West Vancouver's Micayla Gatto who finished the race in 3:55.13.
Local men's expert rider for the 40 to 49 category, Graham Beatty finished first in his category with a time of 4:06.16, beating Calgarian Richard Ratte by more than two seconds.
Cory Leclerc finished first in the men's expert 30 to 39 category with a time of 3:41.80, four seconds faster than the second place Coquitlam-based rider Darryl Bartlett.
"So we definitely had some success," said Leclerc who also coaches many of the local riders through C4 Rider Training.
"We're obviously proving that 麻豆社国产is a place where we can produce top level national and even world cup athletes, so that's a pretty positive thing for 麻豆社国产and we're already a pretty solid mountain bike town.
"The future is bright for mountain bikers in Squamish."
But Leclerc said he couldn't take all of the credit for the success riders have had because most riders train with several coaches in different organizations.
"I don't want to take full credit for someone like Jordan Gosteli's success right now, I'm just another spoke in the wheel, for a lack of a better metaphor. But if I can do anything to help these guys, I'm proud of them, they're all like my little brothers and sisters."
Leclerc attributes the revival of his professional racing career to having helped coach so many of the young riders.
"The reason I'm doing well as an athlete now is because of the work I'm doing with these kids. The old practice what you preach mentality, so all the time I've spent working with these younger guys. It's really coming through in my results.
"The stoke and enthusiasm I get from these athletes has reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the sport," said the Williams Lake born racing coach.
For full 2010 Mountain Bike Canadian Championship results visit canadian-cycling.com
Anyone interested in being coached by Leclerc can contact him at [email protected].
