TransRockies Review and Look Ahead to 2011
A post-race review of the TransRockies Mountain Bike race which took place this past August in the Eastern Rockies – courtesy of race organizers -
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The TransRockies returned to its roots in 2010 with a new 400km route starting in Fernie and finishing in Canmore. The new route, though much shorter than in past kept the challenge high with more time on singletrack and trail and finish times were roughly the same as in the past though the daily mileage was reduced.
Sanctioned by the UCI for the first time, the TransRockies had its strongest ever field with several riders using the TransRockies or the TR3 as a tune-up for the upcoming World Championships in Mont St. Anne, Quebec.
In the TR3, a tough three-man race saw Canadian National Team Member Max Plaxton take the win over 2009 winner Cory Wallace who grabbed the Stage 2 win. Behind them, Adam Craig of Team Giant took third place to round out the podium. In the women’s race Kelli Emmett also of Team Giant was dominant in sweeping all three stages and taking the overall win.
The weather Gods were not kind to riders who chose to take on the full 7 days of the 2010 TransRockies. Though the rain that fell on a few days was rarely hard, the accumulated precipitation made trail conditions challenging for everyone from the pros to those riding at the back of the pack. Stage 6 which should have been the highlight of the week was particularly challenging with cold temperatures and strong winds leading to a reroute off the top of Cox Hill and JumpingPound Ridge for all but the fastest teams.
The Rockies showed their gentler side and offered perfect dry, sunny conditions for the last stage into Canmore and the final finish line. Despite the tough conditions, over 90 per cent of TransRockies starters were able to reach the finish line in Canmore having completed all seven stages.
The competition at the front of the race was again tough with multiple teams fighting fro the win in most categories. In the Open Men’s Division, Team Kona (Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks) recovered from a big time loss to on Stage 4 to grab the overall win from 2009 Champions Stefan Widmer and Marty Lazarski of the Rocky Mountain Factory Team. The Open Mixed Division saw three different teams win stages during the race with Jeff Neilson and Mical Dyck of Terrascape/Trek Canada holding on for the overall win. The complete list of TransRockies and TR3 category winners is below:
TransRockies
Open Men: Kona (Kris Sneddon/Barry Wicks)
Open Women: TerraScape /Deadgoat Racing (Trish Graczyk/Alana Heise)
Open Mixed: Trek Canada/TerraScape (Jeff Neilsen/Mical Dyck)
80+ Men: Czech Masters (Milan Spolc/Martin Horak)
80+ Mixed: Brazil Soul MTB (Mario Roma/Adriana Nascimento)
100+ Open: Mountain Cruzers (Joe McCarthy/Randy Walker)
TR3
Open Men: Max Plaxton (Canadian National Team)
Open Women: Kelli Emmett (Team Giant)
Master Men: Alec Petro
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TRX Registration Starts on October 1st
Special 10th Anniversary Incentives for Past Participants
2011 will be a very special year for the TransRockies as we’ll be celebrating the 10th Anniversary of our epic Rocky Mountain Adventure. In keeping with the celebratory theme, we’ll be announcing a series of special events and promotions between now and the start of the event next August. Registration will open on October 1st with initial field limits of 200 teams for the TransRockies and 200 riders in the TR3 to reach our field limit of 600 riders.
One of the big themes for 2011 is “Reunion”-the thousands of racers who have come to test themselves against the Rockies have a lifetime of stories to tell and we’d like them to come and be part of the 10th Anniversary to share them with us again. To that end we’re offering a “loyalty discount” of 10% off the base registration fee per past TransRockies participation, per person. In dollar terms, that’s $135 off per TransRockies ridden by either teammate. This discount is only available until November 30th, 2010.
We’ll be releasing complete registration information in the weeks leading up to the opening of 2011 Registration so stay tuned to www.transrockies.comfor details or email your questions to registration@transrockies.com.