Panorama, BC was the site of the 2010 National Championships July 10/11. In the women's competition, 2008 champion Micayla Gatto was the clear favourite, in the absence of defending champion Claire Buchar, and the West Vancouver resident was well ahead of the rest of the field, finishing eight seconds in front of second place Miranda Miller (Santa Cruz/SRAM/Pinkbike), with newcomer Casey Brown taking third. Gatto was the only woman to go below four minutes, finishing in 3:55.13 .
"I was really nervous coming into the race," commented Gatto, "but I was able to hit all my lines and have a good, clean run. The uphill pedaling sections were the worst for me, and I'm definitely going to have to hit the cross-country bike some more!"
Elite Women
1 Micayla Gatto (BC) Commencal,Marzocchi,Shimano,Oakley 3:55.13
2 Miranda Miller (BC) SantaCruz/SRAM/Pinkbike/Cycling B.C 4:03.28
3 Casey Brown (BC) Independent 4:08.26
And some notes from WORLD CUPS # 2 and 3 : FT. WILLIAM, SCOTLAND & LEOGANG, AUSTRIA
From Micayla
This year I kicked off my World Cup season with the longest race on the circuit: Fort William. The course was different than other years, so it gave riders something new and challenging to work on. The course workers had removed a lot of dirt from the track, so we were essentially riding on the bedrock. This made for less braking bumps, and more line choice. I qualified 11th, and knew I could improve my time a lot for the finals. However, my run did not go as planned, and I finished 12th; still a good position, but not up to my standards of competition. I pitted with Shimano for the week, and thank them so much for their generosity and support! Thank you Magnus, and everyone at Shimano!
With my first race of the season under my belt, I travelled over to Callendar and stayed with friends for a week. There was a great track about 35 minutes from where I was staying, which was a good 40min push up, and about 8minutes of downhill singletrack. I also spent time at the gym at the local university, did a lot of running through the countryside, and went for some xc adventures on my own. All in all it was a good relaxing week before the next World Cup in Leogang, Austria.
I arrived in Leogang and took a walk around. With 26 trix coming up soon, the bottom of the mountain was a mix between World Cup 4x and Downhill, and massive trick jumps. It was really neat to see everything in one place. It would be neat if they had it all in the same week like a big bike festival (Euro Crankworx?). On Thursday we all walked the dh course, and there were some mixed reviews. The track looked technical and fast with some major sprinting sections, however there were huge holes already formed, so riders were skeptical as to how blown out it would get by race day. I enjoy technical tracks, and racing in the rain, so I was pumped to get on my bike.
Qualifying was on Saturday, and I felt prepared and focused to race. I was having a great run until a course marshal stepped out and instructed me to stop and pull off to the side of the track. Confused and a bit angry, I did as he told, and saw that a girl had crashed in front of me. I got sent back up to the top and had to start again, with my tires muddy and still breathing hard from racing half a lap! I qualified 9th, however, so was very pleased with that. I knew I had more left in my tank for race day, and was super excited to better my time in the pedaling and bottom sections of the course. I knew where I could improve, and concentrated on getting a few good laps in on race morning. It had rained all week, so by now the course was shin deep in thick mud, ruts, and holes. I was having a blast, and charged out of the gate into my race run. At the first split I was sitting in 5th place, however as I entered the first wooded sections, the course got the better of me and I had a big over-the-bars crash. I scrambled to get back on as quick as possible, but the seconds slipped by. I came across the finish line with mud in my mouth, helmet, face, and shorts, and two of my fingers were jammed into one finger of my glove! Not the best run, to say the least! I was disappointed in my crash, but was ecstatic when I discovered I still came 10th. This gives me even more confidence for the next two World Cups in Champery and Val Di Sol, because both are very technical tracks, and I know if I put a good run together, good things will happen for me.
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