Awakened from an off-season of grueling bike trainer hours, the Rundle Mountain Cycling Club Rampage group dusted off their mountain bikes and dominated the 2015 Iron Maiden at the Canmore Nordic Centre on Saturday (June 6).
Four young Rampage riders climbed to the top of the podium against stiff competition, topping many of the junior categories.
“The kids are riding awesome. It’s getting to the point where I have to pedal hard to keep up,” said Rampage head coach Matt Hadley. “They all did really well. You see lots of smiles and the kids want to race. That’s the big goal.”
Will Pollard, Lea McCroy, Chris Glanznig and Isobel Hendry all captured gold medals at the event to lead the Rampage crew.
Glanznig, 15, was the sport men’s winner and had a sizable lead through most of the race. It was his first win on the course at the sport men’s level, as he bested Jeremy Stepper by 2:21.6.
“I went really hard off the start so I could get to the technical stuff first, and I think that really worked for me,” Glanznig said. “It was really hard racing alone. I didn’t know how far I was ahead.”
Logan Sadesky of RMCC finished fourth, while Aidan Brown was fifth.
Will Pollard won the youth sport category. The 13-year old had a tough battle with teammate Jack Menzies, but held onto the win thanks to a series of strong pushes on the double track sections.
“(Jack) would pass me on the single track, I would pass him on the double,” Pollard said. “The course was not too technical with a few nice long double track and single track sections.”
Pollard has reached the podium in his last three races, and is coming off a gold medal performance in Devon, AB. He’s racing road this year as well, and credits his cross-country ski training to helping his fitness.
RMCC riders Matthew Kuzik and Eric Fabbri also finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
McCroy won the U19 citizen’s women’s race over Tenaya Lynx and Olivia Tupper. RMCC’s Sean Parker won the U19 citizen men’s category. Hendry finished ahead of RMCC teammates Maya Fish and Alison Gourley to win the sport youth women’s category.
Robin Pollard, 16, had an excellent battle with Edmonton’s Sidney McGill in the sport women’s category. Pollard was a mere second behind McGill at the finish line.
“It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of technical parts to it,” Pollard said.
She was feeling sick entering the race, but still wanted to race her Edmonton rival.
“My goal is to battle it out with the girl in first place, but I knew that probably wouldn’t happen today. It was close. She did finish in front of me, but I was right behind her,” Pollard said.
Instead of the win, she focused on cresting the hills with speed, and challenging herself on the tricky ‘Organ Donor’ section, which went well.
While the wins were nice, Hadley gave each of the riders smaller individual goals, which they could work on to improve their riding.
“A lot of them are good technical riders, so we tried to get them to push in other spots. Across the flats, keep on top of nutrition and hydration, making sure they finish strong and pacing. All of those things help them have a good result. It’s all of the problem solving that adds to the big picture,” Hadley said.
Several of the riders will now attend a camp in Montana, and Hadley said they’ll be ready for more racing in Canmore at the beginning of July.
Shawn Bunnin bested Canmore’s Matt Hadley in the elite men’s category by 24 seconds, while Kate Aardel won the elite women’s category over Denise Hill. Canmore’s Brittany Webster finished third.
