CALGARY – As tens of thousands of motorists headed toward the mountains for the long weekend, a different kind of road warrior from the Bow Valley pedalled to the podium in the opposite direction at Tour de Bowness.
In pursuit of impressive results over three days (Aug. 5-7) during road cycling events in Calgary, which included the road race provincial championships, Canmore’s Kahlen Anderson stood at the very top of the category 4 women pyramid.
The cyclist won silver and bronze medals in the crit and provincial road race championship races, respectively. She finished eighth in the uphill.
“It was a super fun few days of racing and very well organized,” said Anderson. “I just had a really good weekend of racing and I think there was a lot of success in our club, in RMCC (Rundle Mountain Cycling Club). Everyone learned a lot and it was a good experience.”
Just a few months prior, Anderson participated in her first solo road race at the Canmore Road Festival. Her riding improved this year after the 16-year-old has been ripping rubber more frequently.
In the road race, Anderson and teammate Ashton Thomson worked together to try and tire out the other riders. A strategy the pair used all weekend. A lead group broke away in the 88-kilometre race, which ultimately came down to a sprint finish. Anderson, however, said sprinting isn’t her strong suit, so she attacked on a hilly portion if she wanted any chance at winning a medal.
“A couple people started going with me and I ended up in a final sprint, but yeah, I’m not a sprinter, so I got out-sprinted at the line,” she said.
Thomson finished sixth in the road race. Thomson also placed sixth in the hill climb and eighth in the crit.
Despite it being Anderson’s first-ever crit race, which involves lap racing in tight-quarters with other riders, Anderson was a natural and took second spot.
“The first couple laps I was a little bit nervous, but once I got into it was super fun,” Anderson said. “It’s a bit like triathlon racing, but like 10 times more intense.”
Anderson tied in overall points with Bow Cyclist’s Club’s Alyson Kenward; however, the Canmore rider won the omnium tiebreaker because she placed higher in the crit. The top result has her closing in on moving up to the women’s category three.
One of the top junior triathletes in Alberta, the Canmore teen has kept busy this summer outside of biking. Anderson recently returned from a trip to Montreal, where she finished 12th at nationals in the junior women category, and then took sixth place at the junior national series race.
The active teen was also in the pool swimming at provincials at the end of July with the Bow Valley Riptides, where she placed 11th in the 800m freestyle.
Even surprising himself, Canmore’s Emmett Macklem won gold in the U17 provincial championship race. After burning rubber up the final hill in the 44-km race, the RMCC cyclist found himself all alone crossing the finish line.
“Well, frankly, I didn’t start off the season that great because I didn’t do much training over the winter,” said Macklem, 16. “So going into Tour de Bowness, I didn’t have many expectations, but that first road race, I just managed to get a good break with the rest of the group and ended up winning my category, which was honestly a surprise to me.”
It was the first of a triple podium weekend for Macklem, who won silver medals in the uphill and crit races. He finished second overall in points.
“I didn’t have great fitness coming into the season, but I trained a bit, like riding around Canmore or doing some hard intensity rides with the RMCC,” said Macklem. “That’s really who I owe the win to, the great riders there who helped me get some intensity training and got my speed up.”
Up next, Macklem is eyeing his strongest discipline, the cyclocross event next month in Canmore.
Also competing at the Tour de Bowness was one of Canmore’s Olympians, Connor Howe. While the world cup gold medallist’s competitive speed skating skates are away for summer, the 23-year-old is an accomplished road cyclist on the provincial scene. Howe showed off his talent on two wheels with a bronze in the 132-km men’s cat 1/2 road race, gold in uphill, and fourth in crit to take second overall in the ominium.
“It was my last bike race of the year and probably the best I’ve felt on the bike,” said Howe. “We are doing a lot of intense on-ice training right now so I was worried about being too tired, but ended up feeling strong. It was nice to see some good power numbers in the hill climb too, which with it being so short, is a pretty similar effort to a 1500m on the ice.”
In other local results, Banff’s Finn Borstmayer finished 11th in the men’s cat 1/2 championship road race, third in the uphill, and eighth in crit.
Lyra Giesler won a trio of gold medals in U15 girls, while Quinten Macklem was second overall in omnium points in the U15 boys category. He finished with silver medals in his trio of races.
For all results, visit: www.zone4.ca.
