When sit-skier Josh Dueck delivered the best slalom race of his life at Whistler Creekside and captured a Paralympic silver medal, local mountain bikers who have ridden in Westside Wheelup races in the past eight years could feel a bit of pride in the achievement.

Led in recent years by Phil Chew, longtime coach of the B.C. Para-Alpine Ski Team, the 17-year-old race raises money to support the team and the provincial programs helping athletes such as Dueck break into racing. Former Whistlerite Les Clare founded the race that runs between Function Junction and Rainbow Park on classic West Side trails, and Chew took over about eight years ago, adding the fundraising component for the ski team.

“We have bought equipment, all kinds of ski equipment like gates and drills, to keep the team going,” Chew said, adding that the approximately $24,000 raised through the Westside Wheelup in the past eight years has also gone toward athlete bursaries.

“One of our members of the B.C. Disabled Ski Team, Josh Dueck… (was) in my very first Building Our Best camp I put on, and he ended up winning a silver medal at the Paralympics. He was the only Canadian male to do that. This race is helping those guys out.”

Whistler’s Matt Hallat and Morgan Perrin, members of the national Para-alpine ski team, and national development team sit-skier Sam Danniels also benefitted from the Westside Wheelup fundraising as B.C. team members, and went on to show their speed in the 2010 Paralympic Games.

“All those guys have all benefitted from us putting on this race and being able to get equipment and different things,” Chew said.

The Westside Wheelup returns for its 17th year on Saturday (Sept. 4), opening Whistler’s race-heavy Month of Pain with a dose of revered West Side riding.

“This is always a classic. It’s one of my favourite races of the year… It’s a true mountain biker’s course,” three-time Westside Wheelup winner Matt Ryan said after the 2009 event.

Registration is set to run from 10 a.m. to noon at the Whistler Brewing Co. location in Function Junction, instead of the highway-side spot favoured in the past. But the race start line remains the same as in previous years, Chew said, and the riding action kicks off at noon.

“I’m hoping this year we could get 150 riders,” Chew said. He hopes the big purse of prize offerings donated by generous local businesses — including a Whistler Blackcomb dual-mountain ski pass, a stay at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, a contribution from the Edgewater Lodge and thousands of dollars worth of other giveaways — will help draw riders and meet the goal of raising $4,000.

The Westside Wheelup is marking the start of another September, dubbed Whistler’s Month of Pain, packed with all the bike, running and multisport races you can handle. Sunday (Sept. 5) features an entertaining addition to the September schedule, when the 2010 La Terra Xterra Canadian National Championships hits the Whistler trails and waters of Alta Lake with a 9 a.m. race start.

The off-road triathlon is returning to Whistler for the first time in a decade, drawing an expected 200 racers to a venue that Xterra Canada co-owner Calvin Zaryski says is “world class, there’s no doubt.”

“The actual race course is top notch,” he added.

Designed by race director Grant Lamont and endurance athlete Munro Duncan, the courses will include a swim leg in Alta Lake, starting and ending at Rainbow Park, and lung-straining bike and running legs on West Side trails such as Piece of Cake, A La Mode, Lower Sproatt, Danimal North, River Runs Through it and Whip Me Snip Me.

The finish line at Nita Lake Lodge will feature a barbecue celebration for athletes after they complete the “emotional rollercoaster” that Xterra events can offer, Zaryski said.

The race is open to any athletes up for the challenge. It’s also drawing some truly top-flight competitors to compete for the $10,000 in prize money in play and age-group berths for the Xterra world championships in Maui up for grabs.

Three-time world champions Melanie McQuaid and Conrad Stoltz are expected to hit the start line at Rainbow Park, as are two-time world championship runner-up Danelle Kabush and past Canadian champion Mike Vine.

“If you want to see some of the best off-road triathletes in the world, they’ll be there,” Zaryski said.

The best of the rest will compete for Maui race berths and the coveted national champion jerseys that will go to the winners of each age group racing the full Championship distance, as long as they’re Canadian citizens.

The Championship-distance racing calls for a 1,500-metre swim, about 20 kilometres of mountain biking and a 13-kilometre trail run to the finish line. The shorter sprint-distance course involves 750 metres of swimming, just over nine kilometres of biking and about eight kilometres of trail running.

Athletes can also form three-person teams to compete in the Championship distance or race a Championship-distance duathlon without the swim.

For further details, check out the website at xterracanada.ca. Registration is open online until Friday night (Sept. 3) or in person until noon Saturday at Nita Lake Lodge, Zaryski said.

Subsequent September weekends will be equally action-packed, featuring the following races:

• Sept. 11: RBC GranFondo Whistler mass road cycling ride and Giro race;

• Sept. 11 and 12: the Red Bull 5000 Down mass-start downhill mountain bike race;

• Sept. 18: the 21st edition of the classic Cheakamus Challenge cross-country mountain bike race between Whistler and Squamish;

• Sept. 19: the Whistler edition of the annual Terry Fox Run in support of cancer research;

• Sept. 25 and 26: the third annual Whistler Spirit Run and Festival, two days of energizing and enjoyable cross-country and trail running events in the Whistler Olympic/Paralympic Park;

• Sept. 26: the stunningly beautiful and challenging Rubble Creek Classic, the 24-kilometre trail running race in the shadow of Black Tusk.