Race Recap: Phat Wednesday Round 5

Last night we had our biggest Phat Wednesday race of the season, and one of the biggest biggest ever, with 256 racers coming out in the heat to ride an obviously popular track. The course was short, and though only intermediate trails definitely challenged a few people with some fast loose corners. Starting on Funshine Rolly Drops, then Smoke and Mirrors, Blueseum all of which have had some recent work thanks to the Trail Maintenance team. Crossing over B-Line racers then had multiple drop options available on Wednesday Night Delight followed by a very loose corner that got the better of many riders and wrapping up on lower B-Line.

Johnny Howe dodging tree stumps on the course tonight

In the open male category, Chris Kovarik proved once again that he is the man to beat with a blasting time 4 seconds faster than anyone else. Remy Metailler and Denis Courchesne rounded out the top three. Metailler was able to extend his series lead and now has a 70 point lead on the rest of the field.

The rays of sunshine coming through the trees made for some blind corners on course

In the open women Claire Buchar continued her winning streak and now has almost a 300 point lead on the female category for the series. The master male category continued to switch up the podium with Steve Storey taking the win this week. Adam Billinghurst came in second and managed to take over the series lead in a tight battle with Shane Gayton. Finn Iles is a Junior to watch out for, once again leading the pack with a lead of over 2 seconds, as well as giving himself a strong lead on the field for the series title.

Victoria Amrstrong was one of 33 women racing tonight. Great to see such a strong field.

Unfortunately technology failed us when it came to timing this week and as a result of a computer glitch everyone’s race times have an additional 14.45seconds, however it didn’t effect standing in anyway. We considered fixing everyone’s time but decided we’d give you all a math challenge to work it out yourself while we’re busy planning our next event.

We race again next week, July 9th. Course will be announced Tuesday at 4:00pm on the big sign board at the bottom of the park and on the facebook group Phat Wednesdays

This steep rock roll to sharp right corner on Blueseum bottomed out a lot of forks on race night.


After the technical upper course it was good to finish on some smooth B-Line berms

Open Men
1. Chris Kovarik
2. Remy Metailler
3. Dennis Courchesne

Open Women
1. Claire Buchar
2. Lula Darquier
3. Christina Chappetta

Master Men
1. Steve Storey
2. Adam Billinghurst
3. Craig Wilson

Junior Men
1. Finn Iles
2. Bracken Camilleri
3. Henrique Mathias

Junior Women
1. Georgia Astle
2. Stephanie Denroche
3. Wynnie Tipton

For full race results and the series standings visit: whistlerblackcomb.com/bike.

For more race photos please click here

Photo Credit: New Guy Photography

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