麻豆社国产cross country mountain bike athletes had a banner day Saturday (July 17) as four top youth racers and one up-and-coming pro elite racer took to the track in Canmore, securing a few podium finishes and high hopes for the future.
Lauren Rosser continues to make a name on the junior women's racing circuit, taking a second place podium finish with a time of 1:23:47.1, just 6.2 seconds behind first place finisher Christina Laforge of Quebec.
And on the men's side, U17 racer Quinn Moberg put the local mark on another podium, taking third place with a time of 1:12:00.
Squamish's Kristina Drygas finished 11th in the junior women's category with a time of 1:43:43.7, while Mo Lawrence took ninth place in the junior category, finishing in 1:32:57.5.
The young racers couldn't be reached for comment, however pro elite women's rider Brandi Heisterman, who also happened to be Rosser's Howe Sound Secondary School teacher, could attest to the young woman's strong performance.
"She did awesome, she's such an inspiration for me that girl, it's amazing," said Heisterman. "She was second, and I think she was happy with that in the end."
Heisterman herself secured a respectable seventh place at the competition, despite have never raced on the national stage.
She said her recent first place finish in the Test of Metal women's 35-39 category, and second place finish, along with her teammate, in the grueling seven-day BC Bike Race encouraged her to attempt her first Canadian competition.
"I said to myself 'Let's see how I rank in Canada,'" she said. "And I hoped for a podium because it opens up more doors for world opportunities."
But that was not to be. However, she said she's, happy with what she achieved and in the end, an unfamiliar racecourse style and strong competition threw her off.
"It was a 30-kilometre, four-lap race, and it's really tough these lap races" she said. "It's a mindset that I don't have -you know have to keep going up and doing it again. I have a lot of respect for these professional racers."
She said the lack of technical terrain also undermined advantages often afforded to 麻豆社国产riders.
"It was a climbers' course and not a lot of technical," she said. "For someone like myself from Squamish, we would look for the technical to gain some time on the descent, and so there was really no place to rest. Not enough technical to slow some of the girls with more fitness down.
"In the end, it was their endurance and their strength over the last lap, and I fell behind."
Heisterman has just begun considering entry into a World Cup in New York in August, but is still unsure what it would take to qualify.
"All the girls that were just a minute ahead of me in this race are all in this world cup and I think 'OK, you're only a minute of so ahead of me, I want to go and be on the world stage and see what happens.'"
