According to race winner Colin Kerr, Lost Lake Park presented a healthy helping of “real mountain biking” for the nearly 125 riders who took to the trails on Sunday (Aug. 8) for the B.C. Cup cross-country finals and memorial Ken Quon Re/Max Corridor Cup.

“It’s such a good, solid, technical course. It’s real mountain biking, it’s nice to see,” said the Lions Bay resident, who was glad to be racing in Whistler. Described by several riders as “unrelenting,” the course had plenty of rocks, roots and bridges to keep riders thinking and reacting fast.

Kerr closed the 2010 B.C. Cup cross-country series with his win in the Elite Men’s division, edging out North Vancouver’s Kevin Calhoun and Prince George’s Sullivan Reed to be the first man across the line, finishing three laps of the Lost Lake course in one hour, 44 minutes, 46 seconds.

The finals and the Whistler venue produced a race that was “super fast,” Kerr said. “Kevin and Sullivan and I stayed together for pretty much the entire race… (and) Kevin and I traded places a few times. I fell off a bridge on the last lap, then he caught up to me, but I gapped him a little bit on the last 20 minutes of the race.”

Kerr also joined forces with Squamish’s Dwayne Kress to take the top spot in the Corridor Cup team challenge, giving Kress a second cup win in as many years with the duo’s combined time of 3:32:20. Kress, who claimed the cup with Kelly Servinski in 2009, finished fifth among the Elite Men with a time of 1:47:34 on the unrelenting and yet entertaining Lost Lake trails.

Team Whistler’s Keith Ray and Trevor Hopkins captured the Corridor Cup in the Combined Age Over 80 division, with Ray winning his category and Hopkins finishing second in his to post a combined time of 3:46:27.

Ray finished atop the Master 40 to 49 Men’s category with a time of 1:52:44, settling down and ratcheting up his speed in the second lap after his fast start left him struggling to breathe.

“Once I got settled down and just started riding, having the local knowledge really helped out. I was able to relax in the technical and just rode smooth, rode my own race,” Ray said.

“On a course like this, every corner there’s a boulder here, a stump there, a root there, and if you know your little lines through there you can keep spinning and flow over it,” he added.

Hopkins, who finished the B.C. Cup season second in the overall standings for the Master 30 to 39 Men, took second place in the category on Sunday as Whistler’s Michael Robinson topped the division with a time of 1:47:46. Slowed by two crashes halfway through the race, Hopkins recovered and picked off a few riders as he charged toward the finish line.

“This (course is) unrelenting. It’s very up and down, there’s not a lot of places to recover or drink water,” said Hopkins, who closed the race with a sprint to the finish line and a time of 1:53:43.

Whistler’s Joanna Harrington also had to settle for second place in the Elite Women’s race, finishing behind Squamish’s Brandi Heisterman after working her way back into contention following a slow start. Harrington did overtake Maple Ridge’s Jean Ann McKirdy, who last week was named to Canada’s team for the 2010 world championships.

“Brandi’s riding super strong, she deserved it,” Harrington said. “I had a really shitty start. I was just playing catch-up the rest of the race, but she totally deserved it.”

“I feel Joanna and Jean Ann technically are quite fast. They’ve been doing this for longer, are more experienced than me. I just wanted to put some time on them, and I powered all the hills, where I feel that I’m strong, so I charged up those, and then just tried to stay loose and controlled on the descents,” Heisterman said.

Whistler’s Cathy Zeglinski led the way in the Master 40-plus Women category with her time of 2:14:24, and she joined her Northands Medical Clinic teammate Heisterman to hoist the Corridor Cup as the lone Open Female Team. McKirdy and Port Moody’s Ryan Newsome were the cup winners in the Open Mixed category.

Many Team Whistler riders were on the sidelines of Sunday’s race, pitching in as Team Whistler worked with organizers of the Ken Quon Ride On events to host the fifth annual day of riding in Quon’s memory. The much-loved local IGA manager, bike guide and volunteer died of a congenital heart condition in 2005, after collapsing in Lost Lake Park while leading a group through the trails.

The day of events included the B.C. Cup and Corridor Cup racing, a one-lap Toonie-style race and family ride to the memorial dedicated to Quon, and all told 167 riders of all ages came out to participate. The events and accompanying silent auction and raffle raised about $8,000 for local emergency services equipment.

Posting a time of 1:57:23, Whistler’s Greg McDonnell won the three-lap race in the Citizen 19-plus Men’s division. In the one-lap citizen races, Whistler’s Mahon Lamont led the way in the 19 and under boys’ category while Jennifer McTavish was the lone female rider in her age group. Whistler’s Benoit Reneault and Karen Bodie led the pack of 19-plus male and female riders, respectively.

For full results, check out kenquonrideon.com.