Jasper bikers took out first place honours in a number of categories at last weekends Provincial Cross Country Championships held at the Hinton Nordic Lodge.

Backing up his recent win in the TransRockies three-day solo event, Cory Wallace (also a race organizer) took out the elite men’s category.

While Wallace was four minutes ahead of his nearest competitor, he was a 11 minutes in front of Roddi Lega who should finished in second spot for the overall series. Despite this provincial championship win, Wallace will finish around 12th place for the Alberta Mountain Bike XC Cup series.

Jasperite Loni Klettl, who is soon to celebrate her 50th birthday, crossed the line ten minutes ahead of her nearest competitor in the elite women category. Already the leader for the series, this win gives her the leader jersey for the provincial championships.

“I love my jersey,” she said, “I was actually really happy with the race, the two women I beat I didn’t think I could.”

Calling the course “phenomenal”, Klettl said she was glad to have done so much hill climbing in Jasper to escape the heat during the summer.

“I just wanted to get up into the alpine,” she said, “I did so much hill climbing and then this course in Hinton was all hill climb.”

While temperatures soured in Jasper, Klettl said they were a little cooler in Hinton but it was still good to retreat into the woods away from the sun during the 9.5km ride.

“There was long exposed climbs but then at some points they had some track in the woods so you could stop your head from exploding,” she explained, “plus I doused myself with two litres of water before I started.”

Another first was Matt Staneland, member of the winning Source for Sports 24-hour of Adrenalin team in Canmore this year, who finished six minutes in front in the senior sport mens category.

A close second in the master sport men category was Andrew Bovard, who was only four minutes behind first place winner Trevor Wallace. 

Also representing Jasper was Derek Anderson, who came third in the senior sport men, just 13 minutes behind Staneland.

Another important feature on the Hinton landscape, was Jasperite Angus Jenkins who competed in the Under 15 Novice Men category and finished in 1:26:28.