Competition of all forms

Canadian Cyclocross Championships

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Canadian Cyclocross Championships Course

Canadian Cyclocross Championships Course

Saturday was a beautiful late fall day in Winnipeg. The temperatures reached the mid to upper teens – well above normals, so you couldn’t ask for a better day to head down to The Forks and take in the Canadian Cyclocross Championships. I had a friend (Stephen Page shown in the image) in from Victoria to ride in the event, and Saturday morning he was racing in the Master 40+ M/H event.

The first thing to strike me upon arriving was the magnitude of the event. It seemed as if the majority of The Forks was being used for the course. It was very well done and quite impressive. It consisted of a 3.2km course with features including some intense hills, gravel and a very difficult looking stretch of sand filled switchbacks down by the river.

It was a top notch event that riders and spectators flocked from both near and far to attend, and by all accounts was an outstanding success!

 

Stephen Page

Stephen Page

 

Demo Derby

Demolition Derby

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It was a cooler day today but the excitement at the track kept us all warm. Today, September 13th, 2014 was the Kingdom Demolition Derby at Red River Co-op Speedway, and Becky’s boyfriend Adam was a driver. It was the first time I’d been to a demolition derby, and it was a cool experience.

There were some pretty intense collisions, with a high percentage of them coming from the few women that drove in the event. It was amazing that some of the cars were even able to move after some of the abuse they took

One car even had its back end smashed in to past its rear tires (which were seized) and somehow it made it to the end of its heat.

Adams car took some serious abuse in a few crashes and didn’t last the heat, but he had a great time and it was a lot of fun for us all.

Weekend Races

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Finally experiencing some decent weather here in Winnipeg and decided to use it to full advantage. Packed up the gear and headed out to Gimli with my buddy Mark and his son Dylan to catch some racing action. Our first stop was at the Karting track for the Manitoba Karting Association.

There was some great action and some good photo ops. Fortunately since Dylan raced last year sponsored by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and Mark helped out at the track he was able to get us inside the track area to get up close and personal to the action.

MRA Superbike

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So from the karting races we made our way back out to the highway and up the road to the other end of the field where my buddy AJ was racing his 600cc bike in the MRA Superbike races. While the bikes are topping out around 250 kph, the speed is somewhat deceiving.

We arrived just in time for the afternoon break and hit the pits. AJ was just in the middle of trying to frantically solve a leak in the front breaks in time to hit the polls for the next race. So as he ‘solved’ the problem (as much as you ever solve a problem in pit row) Mark, Dylan and I headed out to pick a spot to shoot the bikers as they raced.

While we were successful in finding a spot to shoot from AJ wasn’t as successful in finishing the race. On the last lap an aggressive passing maneuver led unscheduled exit off the track at 180 kph. After a lucky miss of the tire barricades and a gentle putting down of the bike prior to hitting the ditch no ‘serious’ damage was done!