Under beautiful sunny skies and hot temperatures, the 3rd Annual Kootenay Krusher 50 Kilometre Endurance Mountain Bike Race was held at Nipika Mountain Resort and the Cross River Canyon Mountain Bike Trails on Saturday, August 18.
Over 60 bikers from western Canada challenged the spectacular single track mountain bike course in the 50 km and 25 km distances.
The fastest time of the day was recorded by Stefan Widmer of Vancouver, covering the course in 2:50:57.7, a new course record. Widmer defended his title as King of the Kootenay Krusher for the third year in a row. He is just coming off of a prestigious win in the gruelling Transrockies seven-day stage race last week. Second place in the 50 km was Travis Hauck from Nelson in a time of 2:59:44.2. Third place went to Canadian 24-hour endurance champion Leighton Poidivan of Canmore, Alberta who completed the scenic and challenging course in 3:00:21.2.
The ladies’ champion for her second year in a row was Calgary’s Trish Grajczyk, covering the course in 3:38:00.3.
A number of Columbia Valley local riders fared very well in Saturday’s event. Doug Burland was the winner of the 50-year-old category in a time of 3:58:37.0. Mark Dyck was en route to a great result until a broken chain derailed his efforts just a few kilometres from the finish line.
In the 25-km race, well-known local rider Kim Kitching was the class of the ladies, winning that event in 1:54:34.9. The mens’ race in the 50 plus category was hotly contested amongst the local riders — fighting hard for bragging rights were winner Dave Lammerse [1:57:57.0] beating out Fairmont Hot Springs Ian Robbins [2:01:43.7] and Tony Helmer [2:02:40.7] and Richard Unger, finishing in 2:25:24.0.
In the kids’ categories, the Andruschuk boys Jack and Tobias participated and all the kids had a great time in their first mountain bike race.
The Kootenay Krusher Endurance Mountain Bike Race was organized by Nipika Mountain Resort with the Columbia Valley Bike Society. A big thank you goes out to all the volunteers who came out to help make the event a great success, and to the local businesses who sponsor this race.