The lure of unrelenting B.C. singletrack has drawn about 400 riders to hurl themselves into this year’s B.C. Bike Race, the seven-day stage race that kicked off Sunday (June 28) in the legendary North Shore trails. The week of pleasure and pain began with the push through the North Vancouver mountains, where the duo of Olympian Seamus McGrath and Chris Sheppard surged ahead to claim the Stage One victory over last year’s overall winners, Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks.

McGrath and Sheppard are racing for redemption after a mechanical mishap left McGrath hampered just minutes into last year’s race, dropping the pair out of contention for the overall win, though they went on to win three stages.

When the race headed to Vancouver Island for Stage Two, shredding stretches of technical and flowing singletrack between Nanaimo and Parksville, Team Kona emerged victorious. Sneddon and Wicks edged out McGrath and Sheppard as Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk, winners of the first B.C. Bike Race, finished third again.

Beijing Olympian Catharine Pendrel and Team Luna partner Katrina Nash claimed victory in the first two stages in the quality Team of Two Open Women category, beating out Rocky Mountain’s Alison Sydor and Lea Davison and Oak Bay Bikes’ Lisa Ludwig and Dawn Anderson.

Follow the B.C. Bike Race blog at www.bcbikerace.com for more results and recaps. The riders were set battle with the splendid singletrack trails around Cumberland in Stage Three, the Sunshine Coast in Stages Four and Five and Squamish in Stage Six.

Whistler is the stage for the final pass, Stage Seven, on Saturday (July 4). The shortened final leg is set to start at 10 a.m. at Creekside.

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