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Whistlerite in World Cup top 10
Gatto, Buchar sixth and seventh at Bromont downhill

Whistler’s Claire Buchar battled the pressure of expectations as the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Cup downhill racing circuit moved to Bromont, Que., last weekend.

After slipping and getting tangled with her bike in the World Cup race in Mont-Sainte-Anne the previous week, leading to a 13th-place finish, the rider for Team ChainReactionCycles.com/Intense knew she was feeling fast and had a lot to bring to bear in Bromont.

Buchar started strong in her qualifying round on Friday (July 31), laying down a flowing, relaxed run to hit all her lines, and finish sixth. Buchar wrote in an email to The Question that she was happy with that result, “because I knew that I had a lot more in my for the final.”

But Saturday’s (Aug. 1) final run didn’t go as she’d hoped; she said her run was messy and plagued with mistakes that cost her time. Buchar wound up seventh overall, just behind fellow Canadian rider Micayla Gatto, who earned her best World Cup result yet with her sixth-place finish.

As the national champion riding in Canada, and because she knew she could crack the podium, Buchar said she felt the pressure weighing on her.

“I just didn’t handle it well, I guess. I don’t know what happened. I am disappointed because I was 2.5 seconds off the podium, and I knew I lost at least that making the mistakes I did in my run,” she wrote. “I could have been on the podium, but I didn’t put it together. I would be happy with seventh if I had a good run.

“But I know I am riding faster than I ever have, so that is a motivation that keeps me looking forward to the next race.”

Buchar earned the first World Cup podium placing of her career in April, finishing fifth in a race in South Africa after qualifying in third and keeping cool under that pressure to lay down a solid final run. She said she was proud of Gatto for her good run and career-best World Cup result.

France’s Sabrina Jonnier sped to her sixth consecutive win in the women’s downhill race, while South Africa’s Greg Minaar claimed victory in the men’s race.

In Sunday’s (Aug. 2) men’s and women’s cross-country races, held in brutally wet and messy conditions, B.C. rider Geoff Kabush won the first World Cup title of his career while Catharine Pendrel finished third and Marie-Helene Premont 13th in the women’s race.

In the Junior Men’s race, Whistler’s Tyler Allison finished sixth after battling riders from Canada, New Zealand, the U.S. and Mexico. B.C. rider Evan Guthrie claimed the victory.

Mount Washington mastered

With the B.C. Cup circuit heading to Mount Washington for last weekend’s sixth downhill and cross-country races in the series, Whistler’s James McSkimming came out on top of the Elite Men’s category in the downhill racing, posting a winning time of three minutes, 40.75 seconds.

“I am super happy that I finally had a clean race run, and the win is the icing on the cake. Until yesterday, I had crashed every race since I moved up to Pro/Elite,” McSkimming wrote in a raceface.com blog entry dated Monday (Aug. 3).

Also racing downhill, Whistler’s Charles Brown led the 30-plus Citizen Men division, and Pemberton’s Jamie Hill finished first in the Senior Women’s category. Jack Iles was the runner-up in the Under 15 Men’s category.

Chris Johnston finished fourth in the Senior Men 19 to 29 category, and Nicholas Geddes wound up in the same place in the Under 17 Men’s division. Pemberton’s Jesse Ballhausen finished seventh in the Junior Men’s category, and Whistler’s Brin Alexander finished 10th in the Under 19 Citizen Men category.

In the cross-country races, Team Whistler’s Jesse Melamed led the way in the Junior Men’s category, while Geddes finished second in the Under 17 Men’s division and Craig Mackenzie was third in the Master 50-plus Men’s category.

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