A pair of 麻豆社国产residents were in the running in their respective categories after Day 4 of the seven-day B.C. Bike Race this week.
After winning the Epic Men's Solo category in the Powell River leg on Day 3 on Tuesday (July 5), Squamish's Neal Kindree posted the eighth-fastest time on Day 4 (Earl's Cove to Sechelt) on Wednesday (July 6) to fall from second to fourth in the overall standings.
Chris Sheppard, who continued to be the overall leader in the Epic Men's Solo category after Day 4, finished just one second behind stage winner Jason Sager of the United States. Sheppard led second-place Sager by nearly 15 minutes in the overall standings after Day 4 with a cumulative time of 10 hours, 26 minutes, 12 seconds. After Sager (10:41:01) was third-place rider Cory Wallace (10:53:58) and Kindree (10:55:49).
Results from Day 5 of the race, which was set to go from Sechelt to Langdale on Thursday (July 7), were unavailable at press time. The racers are scheduled to ride the 麻豆社国产leg of the race today (July 8) before wrapping things up in Whistler on Saturday (July 9).
Dr. Rua Read of 麻豆社国产remained in second place in the Epic Solo Masters Women category after Day 4, but finished the stage 11 minutes further behind category leader Trish Grajczyk than she was after Day 3. After Day 4 Grajczyk had a cumulative time of 14:20:19 and led second-place Read by nearly 23 minutes, with Kelly Ault of the United States 57 minutes off the pace.
Defending champions Kris Sneddon of Sechelt and Barry Wicks of the United States led the Epic Teams of 2 Open Men category by 29 minutes over second-place Marty Lazarski and Ricky Federeau after Day 4. Sneddon won the 2011 Test of Metal event in 麻豆社国产on June 18.
Kindree told The Chief before the race that he's been looking forward to participating in the event for a while, as it's the first time he's had a chance to compete in the seven-day stage race.
"It's going to be hard," he said. "The top 10 guys there are among the top 20 cross-country guys in the world so the caliber and the depth of the field is enormous so I think it's going to be nothing short of an absolute suffer fest, which is great."
He said he was looking forward to showing off his own backyard trails, but was excited to sample some of the singletrack elsewhere he's never tried.
"I'm actually looking forward to the trails I've never ridden," he said. "There's a lot of exceptional single track in the Lower Mainland and I've been riding my whole life and I have yet to do the majority of it."
Stay tuned to The Chief online for updates from the race.
- With files from Meagan Robertson, The Chief
