World Solo MTB 24 Hour Championship Newsletter #5.

The 2002 WSC marked a turning point and was a year of many firsts. The event took place at the Silver Star Resort located in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, 22 km (12 miles) northeast of Vernon in BC, Canada. Inspired by a typical nineteenth century British Columbia mining town era with Victorian architecture, this town is a true wonderland. Previously Silver Star had played host to a round of the UCI World Cup series.

The addition of Age Group Categories for the first time dramatically increased the overall number of participants from 45 to 86 riders. Age Group Categories included <25, 25 - 34, 35 - 44 and 45+. We produced our first awards dinner and after event party (including a live band, beer and crowd surfing). During the awards dinner, riders watched our first video recap just hours after the completion of the event. Athletes were presented with finisher medals for the first time as well.

Silver Star

The mountain top venue provided us with fantastic views of the Monashee Mountains during the ~ 2,500 ft of elevation between the base and the mountaintop which the riders rode each lap. Riders on hand included; Chris Eatough (2x Champion), Rishi Grewal (1999 Champion), Tinker Juarez, Nat Ross, Steve Fassbinder (Single Speed), Sal Ruiba (of USA Today), Ryan Draper, Cristina Begy, Lesley Tomlinson, Nancy Busching and Stella Carey to mention a few of the North Americans. In addition a strong group of athletes from Europe included; Austrian riders, Mario Amann, Thomas Hodlmoser, Gerhard Gulewicz and Peter Katzenbach from Switzerland.

Silver Star was a beautiful setting and the weather couldn't have been better, said 56 year old Wendy Skean, who would later be part of a legendary epic battle. The beginning of the race saw Ariel Lindsley, Eatough, Grewal, and Juarez set the early pace with Tomlinson and Busching on the womens side. The pace was certainly fast and as Grewal would say in 1999 "it's not how quickly you start but how fast you finish". Finishing this race would test the strongest of abilities and wills, as Mother Nature was about to make an unexpected appearance.

As the race settled in to the early evening 1999 Champion Grewal called it quits with Tomlinson and Busching fighting hard to find a lead over each other and the rest of the womens field. Eatough, Juarez and Lindsley continued to push the pace.

As the event unfolded late into the night, I laid down for a short nap before I had to take the TV crew up to the top of the mountain. Before I had laid down the Doppler system showed a clear weekend of weather, upon wakening I could tell something was just not right, a nasty arctic front was moving in. It was all hands on deck as the winds howled and the rain poured in on the transition and pit areas. Our crew jumped into action trying to secure the start / finish area from completely blowing down, solo rider tents became pretzels, destroyed in a matter of seconds. Most importantly, riders had now been caught out on the course unprepared for these types of weather conditions. One such rider was Ryan Draper who was found by Eric Warkentin on the side of the trail freezing. Eric stayed with Ryan until the medical could reach him and get him safely back to the base of the mountain. Remarkably we had just purchased 50 large packing blankets and I instructed our crew to get them out and available for the riders. As riders made their way back into the pit areas, pit crews worked hard to keep their respective riders warm and dry. The race continued but not without deliberation... should we call the race, place it on hold. In the end the race continued, however some riders who had ventured over to their hotel rooms never made it back. One such rider was Tinker who was in the hunt for the overall win, but once in a warm bath he never returned. I can still see Mark Hendershot's shivering face as if it happened five minutes ago. Slowly riders got warmed up and dry, the arctic storm lifted and riders returned to the course. One of the first groups back on the course included both Wendy Skean and Debbie Sheets, who were battling for the 45+ categories in the womens age group divisions. These two ladies were tough as nails, prepared and out the door, they had a championship on the line. Recently Wendy wrote about what was her "Best Experience on a bike?" for a writing assignment in CO - "2002 Solo World Championships in Silver Star, BC. This was a beautiful setting and the weather couldn't have been better, until the middle of the night. An unpredicted cold storm hit with such force it blew down tents and sent racers running for shelter. I was on the course when it hit and it was the first time I had ever ridden through so much rain (being a So. Cal. gal.) When I got into the pits they were nearly deserted. My son would not hear of me stopping. In ten minutes I gobble down a potato, drank chicken noodle soup and was back out riding. It was a challenge and exciting. Stuart Dorland had added age groups to the categories for the first time that year and I wanted that jersey (I wanted that jersey, I needed that jersey)."

In the end, and for the 3rd year in a row, Chris Eatough (Trek/VW), Great Britain, won the World Solo 24 Hours of Adrenalin Championship title. In spite of severe weather conditions that had to be endured in the final hours, Eatough held a solid 1st place standing, coming in through the finish line at 23:04:53 and finishing with 19 laps. "This was truly an epic race" reported Eatough at the finish line.

In the Elite Female Solo category, Canada's Lesley Tomlinson (Rocky
Mountain/Oakley/Nike) finished with an impressive time in her first 24-hour race, with 17 laps at 24:30:55. Tomlinson, a 1996/2000 Canadian Mountain Bike Olympian, said "I didn't know what I had gotten myself into, which was probably a good thing." And as for Wendy Skean the 56 year old 1st grade teacher from California... "I was being chased and on the last lap had only a few minute lead. I had never raced so hard and looked behind me so much to see if I was being caught. Coming across that finish line in first place at age 56 in the 45+ category was the most satisfying experience I have had on a bike." A congratulation also goes out to Debbie Sheets who finished 24 minutes behind Wendy.

During an epic event the Age Group categories were born.

If you have a good story to tell, please email it to:

worldchampionships@twenty4sports.com

Stuart