Race Recap: MooseDuro - Moose Mountain, Alberta
Winter came early this year with over 10 cms of snow falling in the week leading up to MooseDuro. Luckily on race day an inversion brought sun to Moose Mountain - though not quite enough to dry the trails.
Alberta 66 made a slight change to the course to protect the riders and trails, removing a particularly treacherous steep section, but the conditions made for challenging racing nonetheless. Sena Odyakmaz, U18 Woman’s participant, unfortunately couldn’t finish the race after she “crashed so hard her pants fell off” on stage 2 - Jean Guy. Her teammates from the Rundle Mountain Cycling Club zip-tied her pant waistband back together so she could hobble back to the race finish.
Fortunately, most of the racers were able to keep it rubber side down, or at least return quickly to rubber side down, throughout the day. Stage 1 saw everyone racing Brakeless, a trail that starts with steep corners then takes riders on a long, fast, flat section to finish.
Stage 2 separated the short and long course participants. Short course headed to Family Guy, a trail that lulls riders into going deceptively fast due to its good sight lines and flow. Long Course riders took on Jean Guy on the Rocks a notoriously technical trail with steep rock- armoured corners at the top leading into a fast, rooty and sendy finish.
Both long and short course then headed to the final two stages on Race of Spades. The top stage demanded riders full attention in the slick rocks and tight trees, the bottom stage forced them to pedal tired legs to the finish where they could refuel at the BBQ by Ridleys Cycle.
The fastest times of the day came from women and men who’d driven up from Fernie, BC. Jena Greaser, Open Women, lives in Fernie but traveled to MooseDuro after hearing about how much fun the event is from friends. She set the women’s pace decisively, winning each stage and finishing in a time of 19:37. Sean Alexander, Open Men, is a local to Moose Mountain, but was in Fernie for the Dirt Diggler downhill race on Saturday. He and MooseDuro 2017 winner, Alex Silverthorne, got up at 5 am to make it back for the MooseDuro start. Despite recovering from the Diggler after party, Sean battled a fast group and took the win in 17:26, a mere 2 seconds over Canmore local Marcus Henry, founder of Steedz Enduro.
Live results from Zone 4 timing, provided by the Canadian National Enduro allowed racers to immediately compare their stage times to their friends and see where they won or lost the race within a race.
Muddy racers didn’t head straight home to shower, instead staying around for awards, hoping to win some of the excellent raffle prizes - gear from Tairin Wheels, Bicycle Cafe Canmore, Icebreaker, Osprey Packs, NRG, Ibis and more.
This race wouldn’t have happened without our intrepid volunteer crew who braved the cold morning temperatures to marshal, first aid and cheer on the racers. Also, many photographers came out to capture the event and have posted their pictures on Roots and Rain for purchase, all proceeds from these photos, as well as all profits from the race will be going back to MMBTs for building and maintaining stoke on the mountain.
Thanks again to everyone who came out! This community knows how to throw a fun event!
Podium Shots by Ryan Tetrault:
Long Course Open Women: Jena Greaser, Suzanne Winkelmann, Jenny Strong
Long Course U18 Women: Clara Bown
Long Course Masters Women: Heather Cleveland, Ramona Hill, Dana Cornea
Short Course Open Women: Jennifer Grundke, Alyssa Bruce, Mandy Quesnelle
Short Course U18 Women: Leanne Gartner, Jocelyn Hundert
Short Course Masters Women: Courtnay Romkey
Author Info:
Member since Oct 25, 2017
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We spent the weeks leading up to the race repairing and preparing the trails, and we are committed to ensuring they are in the same condition our better after our event.
Jeff.
And one only needs to notice the large ramp up in rider traffic at Moose in the week(s) before the race to understand the level of interest and awareness that AB66 is bringing to the area. Great work!
Glad the trails are seeing action.
Setting up and prep for any race is a lot of work. I can understand the need to proceed on a set date.
Lots of shovels and buckets to fill holes Jeff!!
Too many moving pieces to fully reschedule a race like that. Toonie races and other events we often reschedule.
And for those concerned about the ethics of hosting the race in the wet - due to the chill temperatures, the hard pack of the dirt, and the nature of the moisture (largely a slow melt from the sides of the track), I didn't experience a single inch of trail that was soft. All the mud we were wearing at the finish was from the surface moisture mixing with any of the loose pebbling that would have been sitting on top of the actual trail, not the foundation itself. Well, with exception to the cow-produced dirt prevalent in various places - that was more than just a little moisture...
@hastings if anyone is going to be up doing work on the trails over the weekend be sure to reach out or post something on social media if you need extra hands!
www.pinkbike.com/video/493039
Sorry for the delay!