Happy Off-season

Here's a great video to help us all in the off season with some core strength. Doing some core work over the winter will help prevent injury and insure that you're not too sore as you get back on the bike, either over the holidays or in the new year.

flickr

Susan LeBlanc took some fantastic photos of the race on Saturday, check them out on flickr but be sure to thank her for the professional shots! They're a bit better than the ones I took on my phone crouching in the leaves... 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shapelike/sets/72157627915128465/with/6307693234/

Greg Archi

Check out Greg's post race analysis!

http://gregarchi.blogspot.com/

Podium

Here are the podium shots. There is a video of ginger ale spraying out there somewhere that I'll put up soon along with a link to more race shots I'm hoping. Stay tuned for full results.

Feed back concerning interest for a spring Tweed Ride would be appreciated. I for one would break out the wool socks, plaid and some tweed on my old 10spd in a heart beat.

Keep your eyes peeled for our racers at Nationals. I know there will be a few attending on Nov. 5th!

Senior Men/ M1

M2 Fast Men

M3 Fast Men

Happy HallowCross

Victory for Mogg

Peter Mogg became the 2nd Annual HallowCross champion in Sarnia Saturday morning, dominating the field of 20 riders with a convincing performance. Mogg appeared to be untouchable after a lap and a half of the technical course, coming out of the sand pit with a sizeable advantage and never looked back.

The ensuing battle for second was over almost as fast as it began. A hard chasing Michael Ashton put in a solid ride, keeping the chasers at bay and solidifying his spot on the podium. Ashton held off M2 champ Carlos Goncalves and Jean-Yves Hudon, winner of the M3 category. Goncalves and Hudon  fought right until the bitter end, finishing seconds apart respectively. Hudon, the unoficial 29er (single-speed!) champ of the day, seemingly made the right call going with the fat tires, besting many of the crossers' on the day over the slick conditions.

Other notable rides on the day saw Ken Vandermeer topple men half his age winning the M3 race also riding a single speed 29er and Greg Archi win the U23 cat while riding strong against the Seniors.

Results:

Senior/M1
1st   Peter Mogg
2nd  Michael Ashton
3rd  Greg Archi
4th   Andrew Linley
5th   Michael Clarke

Master2/B Race
1st   Carlos Goncalves
2nd  Andrew Botterel
3rd   Jason Everat

Master3/ C Race
1st   Jean-Yves Hudon
2nd  Ken Vandermeer
3rd  James Stanski

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who came out, our sponsors and to the all volunteers who made the event possible! It was an perfect sunny fall day to race some cross.

Check back soon for race results and photos!

Cyclocross Draw Prizes

Just picked up some great draw prizes from The Bicycle Shop in Sarnia and Revolution Bike Shop in Brights Grove. There will be some awesome cold weather gear, tires and other merchandise up for grabs.

The course has gotten a little greasy over the past few days with the rain so prepare for a little mud!

Cross Country at Canatara

On Wednesday, Canatara Park hosted the SWOSSAA Championships where High School students ripped off some seriously fast kms, Athletes who finished in the top 15 individually and top 2 teams in their district qualified to race at Canatara, which is the last round of qualification before the OFSAA Ontario Provincial  Championships held in Ottawa.

Jazmin Martin running out of Belle River took the womens 5k event with a time of 18:40 that would put most men to shame, myself included. Vincent Massey's top finisher Ashley Baracci and St.Chris's Nicki Parkes completed the senior women's podium.

1  Martin, Jazmin       Belle River D.H.S        3:44.2/km          18:40.74 
2  Bracci, Ashley       Vincent Massey           3:53.4/km         19:27.01 
3  Parkes, Nicki         St. Chris                     3:56.2/km         19:40.83

In the senior mens 7km race, Ryan Sleiman from Kingsville seemed to take the race into his own hands straight from the gun leaving Riverside S.S runner Corey Bellemore and Dan Piticariu of Vincent Massey in hot pursuit. Sleiman never appeared in danger of succumbing to the pressure from Bellemore and Piticariu and stormed away in control for the win despite a late charge from Bellemore near the finish, crossing the line only 6 seconds back. 

1  Sleiman, Ryan          Kingsville               3:08.6/km        21:59.66 

2  Bellemore, Corey     Riverside S.S          3:09.5/km        22:05.90  

3  Piticariu, Dan           Vincent Massey      3:12.0/km        22:23.40

Read more: RunnerSpace.com/OFSAA - The Home of the Ontario High School Track and Field / Cross Country Runner - News - 2011 Results - SWOSSAA XC Championships http://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=31557&do=news&news_id=21704#ixzz1bzjpzJ73

Helpful things to know 101

As HallowCross fast approaches, we hope everyone has their rides tuned up and ready to go. Just to be clear on the location, the start will take place in the field boardered by the BMX park and the beach. You won't miss it. Just keep an eye out for the Kona tent provided by The Bicycle Shop in Sarnia.

The race will start at 10am sharp. If there is enough keener's out there to have two races, the B race will leave 5 minutes after the A race. Show up an hour before hand to make sure you are registered and your bike isn't falling apart.

There will be washrooms on site, hot coffee and water. I will also be offering my mechanical skills to those who experience last minute mechanicals (no bottom bracket overhauls tho).

If you see some red buildings and a ton of ducks you are in the right place. We may replace the sand pit with a Goose gauntlet.

Le Pumpkins are back.

If you procrastinate as much as I do and put cycling ahead of paying bills and shopping for Halloween decorations, not to worry. As you will be racing (of course) instead of being productive a la picking up decorations for the 31st, you will have a chance to win a grand pumpkin from one of our local pumpkin farmers.
So by racing, you are really killing two birds with one stone. Only metaphorically speaking of course... I generally don't condone killing birds, however if you could actually pull that off maybe you should consider a career change. The Red Sox could use a pitcher. I digress...

2nd Edition

HallowCross in Sarnia will be back again in 2011. Slated for October 29th at Canatara Park riders will once again tackle our sand pits and BMX whoops, while the organizers will battle large gofers disassembling the course, providing the usual Devils Night mischief. Stay tuned folks...