Fast and muddy: enduro mountain bikers took on 麻豆社国产trails for the 2018 Gryphon race on Saturday, one of the few World Series qualifying events in Canada.
Brittany Phelan took first place for women with a total time of 21 minutes 22 seconds while Remi Gauvin took first place for men with a total time of 17 minutes and three seconds.
In the pro women category, Christina Chappetta (0:21:41.513) came second, followed by Jo Peters (0:24:26.721) in third. In the pro men category Rhys Verner (0:17:32.323) came in second followed by Lee Jackson (0:17:44.121).
鈥淚t was really good, it was our first sell out event,鈥� said race executive director Dylan Smith.
This year heavy rain was projected for the Saturday race day, but Smith said the weather held off, although Friday鈥檚 rain made for a slick and challenging course.
When it started five years ago, The Gryphon was one of the first enduro races in the country. Now five years later, the format has fully hit mainstream mountain biking, and this year the race sold out for the first time.
In enduro racing, only certain sections of the course, mostly downhill, are timed. Uphill stretches between the race stages are not timed. Winners of the race will have the lowest combined time from downhill sections.
This year鈥檚 full course was five stages over 32.8 km, with 1,506 metres of climb. Trails included Crouching Squirrel, Hidden Monkey; Entrails; Another Man鈥檚 Gold and Somewhere Over There.
The event is a qualifier for the Enduro World Series, meaning it attracts pro riders from around the western region.
New to the event this year was a short course, which allowed the event to appeal to a wider range of riders.
鈥淚t opened it up to people working their way towards the full course,鈥� said Smith.
The short course was 26 kilometres with 1,151 metres of climb, composed of three separate stages that incorporated a number of trails including Rupert, Roller Coaster and Hybrid and Low Down.
Teigen Pascual (0:11:42.371) was the fastest woman on the short course, taking first place in the under-19 women division. In the open men category, Mason Fulton (0:10:24.449) took first.
Smith said the 麻豆社国产trail system is naturally well-suited to enduro.
鈥淲e try to choose the trails that are fast, flowy that you can keep your speed on as opposed to slow technical trails,鈥� he said.
鈥淧eople are always really stoked with the course selection here, but in Squamish, it鈥檚 really easy to pick five awesome trails and put it together. We have that luxury,鈥� he said.
The event was followed by an afterparty at Norman Rudy鈥檚. Next month the same organizers will be hosting the women鈥檚 only Hot On Your Heels enduro race on July 21.
Smith said the race organizers have plans to expand the Gryphon event further next year. They鈥檇 also like to encourage the wider community to catch the action.
鈥淎s far as our goals from the race perspective, we鈥檇 like to have more spectators and expand it to more people in town that are non-mountain bikers, or for those who aren鈥檛 in the race scene, to just come out and watch. It鈥檚 a really exciting thing to watch,鈥� said Smith.
