2.5°C Light Rain 
Early in the 2009 Test of Metal, Russell Stevenson saw Max Plaxton and Whistler’s Matt Ryan racing toward the first racer prime on the 67-kilometre course. That was the last that Stevenson, runner-up in Saturday’s (June 20) 14th annual running of the epic Test, saw of Plaxton, who steamed away to become the repeat Test of Metal champion.
“I could see Max for maybe three minutes, and then he was gone,” Stevenson said.
Plaxton stormed to his second consecutive Test of Metal victory with another record-setting time, breaking the mark he set in 2008 by almost one minute by stopping the clock this year at two hours, 30 minutes and 15.4 seconds.
In fighting form and keen to repeat as the top Test rider after posting his first U.S. Cup race series win one weekend earlier in Colorado, Plaxton finished about five minutes ahead of Stevenson, who hails from Mercer Island, Wash. Kona rider Kris Sneddon of Sechelt claimed third, followed closely by Ryan in fourth and Dwayne Kress, the fastest Squamish rider with his time of 2:41:08.5, in fifth.
“The course was great. It was just as good as last year,” Plaxton said, adding, “I think it’s a very diverse course. It has everything, so it takes an all-around rider to do well. It’s a true mountain bike course.”
Many of the 900-odd riders praised the course conditions in Saturday’s race, after earlier smatterings of rain tamped down the dust and produced fast, fun riding. Ryan said the 2009 Test course was “probably one of the fastest I’ve seen it, for sure.”
Both Plaxton and Catharine Pendrel, the fastest female rider in the race, said they loved the crowds of spectators who lined sections of the challenging course to urge racers on with hoots, hollers and rattles of cowbells in the sporadic sunshine.
“It’s amazing. Just going through the feed zone there, (in) Powerhouse, the crowds are just like a European World Cup,” Plaxton said.
Pendrel, who finished fourth in the 2008 Olympic mountain biking race, posted a time of 2:50:44.7 to chop about six minutes from Wendy Simms’ record-setting time in the 2008 Test, and to smash her 2007 Test-besting time. She said she enjoyed all parts of the challenging course, getting into a good rhythm on the climbs and enjoying the infamous Powerhouse Plunge and the Crumpit Woods section.
“Girls before me have put out some pretty smoking times,” Pendrel said, pleased with her fun race and her record-setting result.
Plaxton and Pendrel both won all 10 racer primes, the cash prizes donated by the sponsors for the first male and female riders to reach certain spots on the course. Ryan battled Plaxton for the first prime, at the outset of a strong race for Ryan where everything went according to his plans.
“I’ve never won a Test of Metal prime, so I thought I’d give it a crack,” Ryan laughingly said of his speedy start. Though Plaxton edged him out, he said he was happy with his race overall, as he fought off cramps in Nine Mile Hill and the Plunge, plus a Plunge crash, to catch Kress in Crumpit Woods and rip to the finish.
His time of 2:40:31.1 saw him repeat his fourth-place overall result from last year’s Test.
“All in all, another one crossed off this list, thank God,” Ryan joked. At the finish line of what could have been his ninth or 10th Test, he said, “They never get any easier. You start to work it out over the years, that’s for sure, trying to figure out the strategics of it, because a lot of guys go out a little bit too hard and sort of fade.
“You’ve got to have something for Crumpit Woods, because you can make up a lot of time in there.”
Lesley Clements was the fastest female Whistler rider in the race with her fifth-place finish in the Female Pro Elite category, and her time of 3:16:36.8, which was 15 minutes faster than her 2008 result.
“The race was good — it’s fast, the course is super fast,” she said, adding that her Test experience this year was relatively uneventful though “quite painful.”
Many other Whistler and Pemberton riders posted strong results in the gruelling Test. Among the top age-category finishers, Michael Boehm was the first rider across the line who wasn’t a Male Pro Elite competitor, finishing 13th overall and first in the Male 35 to 39 category with his time of 2:47:01.1
Keith Ray won the Male 40 to 44 division with a time of 2:54:11.5, and Bob Allison topped the Male 50 to 54 category with his time of 3:02:01.1. Cathryn Zeglinski won the Female 45 to 49 category, having her best Test yet despite suffering through a dizzy and sore week leading up to the race after a serious crash.
Mike Charuk grabbed the second spot in the Male 45 to 49 category with his time of 2:52:57.9, followed by Eric Crowe in fourth.
Robin O’Neill finished second in the Female 35 to 39 category,
James McSkimming finished third in the Male 20 to 29 division with his time of 2:59:59.5, and Rob McSkimming finished second in the Male 50 to 54 category, followed by Dave Johnston in third, while Jennifer McSkimming finished second in the Female 45 to 49 division.
Henric Meldgard finished third in the Male 55 to 59 category, followed by John Blok in fourth.
