Hammerfest Downhill Mountain Bike Race May 1, 2005

Hammerfest in Parksville is one of the most popular Mounain Bike races on Vancouver Island. Kebble Sheaff, owner of Arrowsmith Bikes started the race originally as a fundraiser for cancer research. The race was so popular that he decided to make it an annual event. Now in its 12th year, having grown through BC Cup years & clear cuts, Hammerfest still attracts the best racers from all over the Island.The course starts out winding through the trees and just keeps getting faster as riders are spit out into a clear cut full of huge jumps & rollers. Although the devastated forest is ugly it makes the course very spectator friendly as you can watch racers fly through the whole jump section. The last third of the three minute course is spent back in the dark woods.




Nearly all of the riders I talked to on Sunday were smiling and said "yup I had an awesome run!" Even Jordie had a good run despite laying it down on one corner - he calls it his Hammerfest curse since he has yet to take the title after years of racing the course. I too was cursed during practice runs on Saturday, Tyler accurately described it as a "hammered scaphoid fest" but I should be back racing by July. I will be snapping photos and writing stories (slowly) in the mean time!


Results are as follows: Expert Men: Dan Espeseth 1st at 2:53:31, Andrew Mitchell 2nd at 2:53:65, Brent Anderson 3rd at 2:54:50, Jordie Lunn 2:55:50 Expert Women: Adrienne Miller 1st at 3:16:26, Seana Wright 2nd at 3:27:18, Chris Brock 3rd at 3:59:77 For full results visit www.arrowsmithmtbclub.com


Special thanks to Arrowsmith Mountain Bike Club for putting on an awesome event & to Hugh Fletcher, Brian Lunn, Kebble Sheaff & all the other volunteers for all of your hard work.

Editor's Note:

We wanted to also add some missed thank yous from Island Cup #1. Props go out to Howie Adams for the timing, Michael Parcher for his countless hours of planning and building. Thanks to all the volunteers out there that make these events a reality for all the riders.