The ageless Leighton Poidevin claimed yet another endurance victory at the Canmore Nordic Centre, winning the 2015 Organ Grinder Mountain Bike race open men’s master’s category on Sunday (June 7).
Poidevin, who usually spends much of his summers riding mad distances in circles, clocked eight 10-kilometre laps of the technical course in 5:09:47 to take the win. Peter Tondl finished second while Ian Auld was third.
“I haven’t raced much, so it was good to get on the bike. It’s a good break from work,” Poidevin said. “I didn’t bike at all in the winter and just skied. That was awesome.”
He said his back got sore and his legs had some rust, but he was happy with the effort, equaling the number of laps in the open men’s category.
“It’s always painful at the start of the season. But people like this event. We don’t have many races in July, but in June, there are race conflicts. A lot of Calgary and Edmonton riders show up for this race.”
Bow Valley cycling phenoms Liah Harvie and Sarah Poidevin teamed up to conquer the women’s team event, finishing seven laps in 4:47:36. Robin Pollard and Sidney McGill finished second with seven laps in five hours, while Karen Martens and Shantel Koenig were third.
Poidevin and Harvie have concentrated more time on their road bikes of late, so they treated the race as just another training day.
“This was the first mountain bike race of the year for me and I came in tired, so it was just for fun,” Poidevin said. “This is a great event at the Nordic Centre and a good way to spend a Sunday.”
After spending much of last summer racing across Canada and Europe, Harvie said racing a little closer to home was a nice treat.
“It was pretty casual. I kinda came in and showed up. It’s always good to win,” Harvie said.
Both have big racing goals this year. Harvie will attempt to requalify for the junior road world championships, and will race in Quebec and British Columbia in order to qualify. Poidevin has moved up to the elite women category so she’s chasing experience and results. She’d also like to peak at Canadian Road Nationals and B.C. Superweek.
Canmore’s Ian Murray and Heath McCroy both bought new 29ers this past winter and put them to good use by winning the men’s team race, clocking eight laps in 4:47:40. Paul Ignatiuk and Mike Biennerhassett were second (4:49:27) and Bradley Kerr and Shane MacNaughton were third (5:02:03). Last year, Murray and McCroy were the only two riders in the field with 26-inch tires, but said they had a smoother ride this year.
“We were the last guys in town with 26ers. We made a pact last year to change, McCroy said.
“It really smooths out the bumps. That was a big advantage,” Murray said.
They recorded some of the fastest times of the day on a newly-designed course, which cut out the tough coal chutes section.
“The lap times were a little quicker than we thought, but it worked out well for us,” Murray said.
Jamie Lamb conquered the solo open men’s category by clocking eight 10 km laps over five hours, edging Shawn Bunnin for the win. Matt Duggan of Canmore finished third, finishing seven laps. Kate Aardal won the women’s solo open category, also finishing seven laps in five hours. Leydy Garcia was second with six laps and RMCC’s Katy Curtis was third with five laps.
