Stage 3 of the 2010 TransRockies was officially the most
remote day of the event with a route which travelled deep into some of the
wildest, most spectacular terrain in the lower Canadian Rockies and which
included a new crossing of the Great Divide that dropped riders in a place more
remote and further from civilization than many of them had been before
Elkford, BC -
Etherington Camp, AB
65km, 1950m
climbing/1550m descending TransRockies Stage 3 was marked by crossing the continental divide--now THAT'S a mountain bike race!
The weather added to the untamed feel of the day with
swirling, scudding dark clouds that moved in and out of the area rapidly
threatening rain but not delivering. The remote Etherington Creek Campground
was subject to the same weather with clear sky thunderclaps and ominous clouds
that, luckily, did little more than sweep past the valley campground located at
more than 1600 metres above sea level.
While the Open Men's and Open Women's standings had been
relatively static over the first two stages, the Open Mixed and 80+ Men's
Divisions were much more wide-open and Stage 3 continued the trend with a
change of overall leader in the Open Mixed Division and another tight three-way
finish in 80+ Men setting up a dramatic last half of the race.
After two straight stage wins in the Open Mixed Division,
Gretchen Reeves and Cannon Shockley (Tokyo Joes) suffered through a tough Stage
3 giving up 15 minutes to stage winners and new overall leaders Mical Dyck and
Jeff Neilson (Terrscape/Trek Canada) who will don the leaders jerseys they wore
throughout their 2009 TransRockies win. Normon Thibault and Wendy Simms moved
one step up the podium to second but remain in third place overall.
In the 80+ Men's Division, 2009 Champions the Czech Masters
won their second straight stage with a narrow 4 minute gap over the British Duo
of Team Mule Bar/Abergavenny RC
who are hanging tight and preparing for a big push to overcome their 8 minute
overall deficit on the more technical coming stages where they feel they have
an advantage.
In the Open Men's Division, the Kona duo of Kris Sneddon and
Barry Wicks extended their lead with a dominant ride to grab their third
straight stage win. Making their first appearance on the podium were Team
Timex/Sugoi Will Kelsay and Matt Boobar, a pair of elite multisport athletes
who put their running legs to good use on the big climb to place second on the
stage. This finish was even more impressive considering Will's broken
derailleur hanger that forced him to turn it into an emergency single speed for
the last part of the stage. Kelsay, who also complete last year's GORE-TEX®
TransRockies Run
is seeking to become the first athlete to complete the TransRockies Bike and
TransRockies Run double in the same year. We'll check in with his progress
later in the race.
The Open Women's category held status quo with the
Terrascape/Deadgoat Racing Duo of Alana Heise and Trish Graczyk won their third
straight stage over the Matching Jerseys Scallion sisters duo. In the 100+
category, the Mountaincruzers (Joe McCarthy/Randy Walker) have established a
big lead and look like they're going to run away with the overall. Many time
TransRockies finishers Simon Parker and Jim Seethram are having their best ride
yet and sit in second place overall in the 100+ Division.
After the wildest ride of the year, the TransRockies riders
head out into the spectacular trails of Kananaskis Country for Stage 4. The
style of riding will change and you can expect the top finishers to shuffle
again. It would be a surprise if at least one or two sets of leaders jerseys
don't move again after Stage 4.
PLAXTON & EMMETT
CLINCH OVERALL WINS ON EPIC STAGE 3
 Feeling a little lonely? TransRockies is no place for no-tool-no-pump-no-food UCI XC wuss-racers.
The final stage of the 2010 TR3 took riders from the
civilized surroundings of Elkford, BC deep into the wilds of the Canadian
Rockies and represented the last chance for the closely bunched top riders in
the Open Men's Division to move up in their divisions and grab more of the UCI
points and Cash on offer.
Having split the first two stages, Max Plaxton
(Shoair/Specialized) and Cory Wallace (KONA) were battling with Adam Craig for
the overall title with everything to ride for on Stage 3. The race had three
distinct stages, a long rolling approach climb followed by a sheer 1000-plus
metre grind up to the day's high point at the crossing of the Great Divide and
finally a raw, steep and technical 15km descent to the finish line.
Off the start, pace groups quickly formed to better check of
the 40+ km until the steepest sections began. Plaxton, Craig and Wallace rode
together until the 35km mark when Wallace and Plaxton upped the tempo dropping
Craig just a couple of km before the second feed station. They rode and pushed
together up the climb but disaster struck Wallace on the roughest early part of
the technical descent when he cut the sidewall on his lightweight tubeless tire
and had to stop for an emergency trailside repair. "I was worried the whole
time on the descent and thought about stopping to put tubes in my tires," said
Wallace.
Wallace was able to hold off a rapidly closing Matt Hadley
(Canadian National Team) to grab second place in a time of 3:35:10. He also
moved up to second place in the overall standings when Adam Craig also
struggled and ended up finishing 4th, 12 minutes behind Wallace but
grabbed third in the overall standings. The top five was filled out by Matt
Hadley in 4th and Carl Decker (Team Giant) in 5th.
Free to descend more conservatively, Plaxton got to the
bottom unscathed and rode across the finish line solo in 3:30:04 to confirm his
second stage win and the overall title. "I felt great through the whole race
and am looking forward to getting home for a quick break and another training
block before the World Cup Finals and World Championships," said Plaxton. "I
really want to thank the organizers of the TransRockies for sanctioning the
event with the UCI. It's really important for guys who race world cups like me
and Adam (Craig) to be able to get some UCI points and get better start line
positions at those races.
After two dominant performances in stages 1 and 2, it was no
surprise that Kelli Emmett again tore through Stage 3 to a clear 20-minute win
and a clear victory in the overall standings. Rosemarie Gerspacher had held
down 2nd place since stage 1 and she finished 2nd again
on Stage 3 to confirm her overall placing. Carrie Edwards grabbed 4th
on Stage 3 to confirm 3rd place in the overall standings holding off
a hard-charging Heidi Volpe who managed to move up from 8th on Stage
1 to finish in 4th overall just 2 minutes ahead of local hero Christine
Misseghers of Crowsnest Pass, AB who grabbed 5th place overall.
In the Master Men (40+) Division, Alec Petro from
Massachusetts held onto the lead he had grabbed on Stage 2 with another stage
victory and strong performance to hold off endurance sport legend Calvin
Zaryski of Calgary who was able to grab second place overall from fellow
Calgarian and first-stage winner Geoff Clark who held onto third place overall
despite a tough ride which saw him finish a half hour behind the winners.
For some TR3 riders, three days in the Rockies was more than
enough but many more will board the shuttles after the awards ceremony wishing
that they could stick around for another day or two of epic scenery, great
trails and unbeatable camaraderie. After a sellout in year 2, the TR3 is bound
to be even more in demand in 2011 when the TransRockies will celebrate its 10th
anniversary.
TRANSROCKIES STAGE 4
Etherington Camp -
Anchor D Ranch
60km, 1800m
climbing/2050m descending
With the finish of the 2010 TR3, it will be a much smaller
field of riders that leaves Etherington Creek Campground to start three
straight days of trail riding through Alberta's legendary Kananaskis Country, a
series of pristine parks which runs for over 100km along the foothils and front
ranges of the Canadian Rockies.
Stage 4 is a TransRockies classic crossing over the summits
of Grass and Sullivan Passes through epic grasslands topping out just below the
treeline at over 2000 metres and including roughly 40km of singletrack-the
first of three back-to-back epic servings of singletrack. After a day when the riders climbed 400
vertical metres more than they descended, they'll enjoy a net elevation
loss of 250 metres on Stage 4,
most of it on fast descents through second-growth forest and meadows.
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