Valemount riders shred competition in BC provincial championship

Homefield advantage proved to be huge for Valemount riders, as the Valemount Secondary School captured the 2009 British Columbia Mountain Bike High School championship Saturday, May 23. The win is the first provincial championship in Mountain biking for the small school, defeating reigning champions Don Ross Secondary school by 290 points.

16-year-old Angie McKirdy was the top finisher for Valemount. McKirdy captured second place in the Senior Girls category in her fourth trip to the provincial championships. McKirdy, who excels on hills, said the course fit her style, as she was able to exhibit her skills on the demanding 6.3 kilometres of track, complete with 150 metres of elevation gain.

“This was a challenging provincial (championship). It had lots of downhill,” McKirdy said. “It’s a much harder course than last year. They’re usually flatter.”

The home track was an advantage, she said, as she was hoping for a podium finish. Local trail builder Andreas Thoni was the architect behind the course.

“I know when the single track is coming up, to get in front of the pack, and to rest on the downhills,” she said.

The McKirdy name is common in mountain biking circles, as Angie’s older sister rides on the Canadian national team. However Angie says she’ll leave that realm to her sister.

“I tried racing competitively, but I just race for fun,” she said.

Team coach Les Van der Roest was thrilled with McKirdy’s placement

“She probably could have had first if she wasn’t such a kind, polite young lady at the start of the race,” he chided.

Alana Duncan also posted a strong result in the Bantam girls division, finishing fourth.

In the Bantam Girls race, Hannah Van der Roest was the top racer for Valemount, finishing fifth.

Tamey Wood was the top Valemount rider in the Junior Girls division, finishing fifth, while Natasha Frank finished seventh.

The team had success in the boys division as well.

Linden Ladoucer finished seventh in the Bantam boys, despite battling an infection on the day. Only hours before his race, Ladoucer was on an IV, and was cautioned against racing.

“Yeah, I wasn’t feeling too great,” Ladoucer said.

However with a few of his mother’s cookies and a bandaged arm fresh from an encounter with a Douglas Fir, Ladoucer raced against doctor’s orders to finish in the top ten. Ladoucer admits he did have the advantage of helping build the course.

“It was flowing with some technical downhill,” Ladouceur said. “It was getting pretty rough at the end of the day.”

Coach Van der Roest praised Ladoucer’s heart and says the racer is a contender.

“He had the most heroic ride,” Van der Roest said.

William VanderZwan and David Carson posted top 10 finishes in the Senior boys division, placing sixth and seventh respectively.

Coach Van der Roest said the team has come in second three times at the provincial meets, and to finally win is a great sensation.

“I’m pretty happy with the result. We’ve came in second three times. We had the biggest team (22 riders) and a willingness to ride cross-country bikes.”

The Valemount racers also had an extra advantage thanks to community support. The club was given 10 Kona cross-country bikes to use for the race to replace many of the heavy bikes the team was using.

“I told the students if they lay down the heavy bikes, we have have a legitimate chance. This was our year on our home course,” he said.

The win is extra sweet considering the size of Valemount Secondary School. Less than 200 students attend, however they were able to defeat much larger schools from Vancouver Island, Salmon Arm and Vancouver.

Van der Roest said the team will be competitive again next year in Whistler

“We may repeat,” he said. “This isn’t a fluke. We’ve been very close in the past and this year we whittled away at the competition.”

Van der Roest started the school’s mountain bike program from scratch 12 years ago.

“It’s nice to have a provincial championship hanging in our gym.”