CANMORE – Pssst … Hey, have you seen any UCI points around here?
Cross-country bikers in Alberta are relishing in a rare opportunity to earn points that will improve their call-up positions at national races following two days of racing last weekend (Sept. 14-15) at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
Christiane Bilodeau of St. Albert was the top woman flying through cross-country trails at the 2024 Western Challenge Cyclocross (WCC) and Drie Zussen Superprestige. Co-promoted by Rundle Mountain Cycling Club and Cyclemeisters, the event aims to grow the national cyclocross calendar.
Bilodeau said the technical courses were exciting, fast and, most importantly, a good opportunity to gain UCI points at the Cycle Canada sanctioned event.
“It’s good to kind of have that opportunity in Alberta. Normally you have to travel quite far for that,” she said.
“I typically find myself going into the States for UCI points because I want to get a better call-up on the start line and that’s what most people do, especially for Pan-Ams and nationals.”
Local riders Charlie Pittard and Ella Eidsvik stepped up in a category on Sunday to earn some points with the hopes of being selected to participate at Canadian Cyclo-cross Championships in Quebec this November.
“The goal was to just survive the race, really,” Pittard said with a laugh.
Normally, the 14-year-old rider is competing against a younger batch of bikers, but this event was an expectation.
“It was fast,” she said. “I was trying to stick with a lot of really fast people I know and I stuck [with them] for a really long time and then it just got to be too much and I had to drop off, but it was really good and very motivating to just try and be fast with a big group of people.”
Top local results over the weekend included Finn Borstmayer of Banff winning both the elite men’s races; Larix Hallett, 16, finishing second in the WCC’s junior men’s race and then fourth in open men’s race; RMCC’s Greta Dove finished in first place in WCC U15 girls; Emmet Macklem was first in sport men for the superprestige; Jared Gervais was second in superprestige expert men; and Gregory Patychuk was second in WCC men’s masters 65.
For a full list of results, visit www.zone4.ca.
