The morning of Sunday, November 23rd, 203 racers descended into the bowl of to take on the Ontario Provincial Championships of Cyclocross.
The racers and several thousand interested onlookers were treated to some epic racing, seasoned by a spectator-friendly course, live-polka-band, beer-tent, kielbasa-BBQ and industry expo area.
The morning started off frosty, and well below freezing, but by mid-day the sunshine came out the temperature hovered just over the 0 degree Celsius mark, so the day's main event at 1 o'clock turned into a muddy and slushy affair.
Pre-race favourite Mike Garrigan opened up an early lead and steadily opened up a commanding gap to take the Championship Crown.
OCTTO-sponsored Jet-Fuel Cycling rider Peter Morse took the bronze-dais of the podium.
Pete used OCTTO bars, stems, seatpost, bar-tape and some prototype parts on his 'cross bikes.
Full results and more photos at the OCA's pages.
After the race, a muddied and bloodied Morse said that this was the best race of the Ontario calender, citing the epic challenge of the course and the great atmosphere surrounding the event.
OCTTO exhibited at the race, showing off our parts and some prototypes. Thanks to all the people who stopped by to check us out. Also, thanks to RAAM contender Peter Oyler, Rob 'The Count' West and Gianni Fornasier for manning the booth and helping to prep, set-up and tear-down.
Reminder, it's almost here, November 23rd is the date for the Ontario Provincial Cyclocross Championships.
The race is being held by Véloo Media in downtown Toronto at Riverdale Park. Visual prize-list here.
OCTTO will have a booth there, so drop by.
Dr. Octto will be in Tincap, Ontario for the Grand Opening of GSM Training Centre, on November 21st, 2008.
OCTTO will be displaying the full-range of OCTTO products.
Tincap is near Brockville in Eastern, Ontario on the border of New York State, between Ottawa and Kingston.
The OCTTO-sponsored self-proclaimed Dynamic Duo of Ms. Natasha Elliott and Mr. Derrick St. John have been ripping up courses and legs over the past few weeks of the Cyclocross calendar.
You might think that with all the double-consonants in their names, they are a Finnish snow-tire, but that guess would be a little too far North in Europe from their cyclocross final aspirations in Belgium.
In their European preparations, you can read their reports from all over the East Coast of N.A. :
New Jersey (USGP #3,4) - photo
Toronto (International Cyclocross #1,2) - photo, photo
New Jersey (Cycle Smart #1,2) - photo, photo
Kentucky (USGP #1,2) - photo, photo
Current UCI Cyclocross world-rankings include two OCTTO-sponsored riders, the "Dynamic Duo" of Derrick St.John and Natasha Elliot.
Ms. Elliot is the 2nd-ranked individual Canadian among the Elite Women at 16th spot, behind Wendy Simms who is also ranked 1st worldwide. Canada is ranked 3rd in the Elite Women's Nation standings, thanks to these ladies.
DSJ is the 3rd ranked Canadian man and 33rd overall among Elite Men. In the men's Nation's rankings, Canada is ranked a remarkable 5th, ahead of traditional 'cross powerhouses of Switzerland, France and Italy.
DSJ mentioned tto OCTTO-News:
"Tasha says she loves the OCTTO bar tape...it is good luck. I love it cause it washes easy and she gets it dirty all the time."
Derrick St. John, riding OCTTO Components, placed 3rd at the Canadian National Cyclocross Championships in Edmonton, Alberta.
Geoff Kabush, the 2-time Olympian, took the gold and the national champ's red-and-white jersey.
DSJ finished a meagre 47 seconds behind the veteran Kabush. While Kabush and the second-place finisher worked together at the head of the race, DSJ chased solo after one of his trademark-starts and almost reigned the pair in.
As DSJ remarked to OCTTO-News prior to the race:
"Today is going to be M-E-N-T-A-L! The course is like a circuit race/crit/cross race....my specialty!"
DSJ's race-report is on his blog.
October 11/08 - Cyclo-cross Nationals
Edmonton , Alberta
Elite Men - 21.7km (7 laps)
1. Geoff Kabush (BC) TEAM MAXXIS 0:54:59
2. Mike Garrigan (ON) JET POWER / epicride 0:55:40
3. Derrick St John (ON) Stevens Cross 0:55:46
Photos at CanadianCyclist.com
Podium
DSJ riding
DSJ hiking
Official web-page for the Ontario Provincial Cyclocross Championships is up at Veloomedia.
There is a course-map posted along with a POV course-ride-thru-video.
The organizers are holding open CX training at the course at Riverdale park every Thursday evening, with barriers set up and everything.
Click the image of Peter 'Cobra' Morse for a slamming race-poster.
After winning 4 of 5 UCI races in the past couple of weeks, OCTTO-sponsored cyclocrosser Natasha Elliott is currently ranked #1 in the 2008 USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Calendar standings.
Women's Standings (as of September 29)
1. Natasha Elliott (CAN) 80
2. Amy Dombrowski (Durango, Colo.) 52
3. Devon Haskell (Chicago, Ill.) 47
4. Sarah Kerlin (Capitola, Calif.) 41
5. Sue Butler (Portland, Ore.) 40
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