Right after she won her first national championship jersey since 2019, Canyon’s Emily Batty had this to say: “It was a perfect weekend.” And although there’s still the relay events tomorrow, she’s not wrong. On Saturday, there was some incredible XCO racing at Hardwood Bike and SKi in Oro, Ontario.
The course featured some short steep climbs and some longer (by Ontario standards) hills, but the big factor was the heat. The temperatures were in the upper 30s and in true Onterrible style, it was humid beyond belief. Most riders wore ice vests before the race, and even the organizers made sure to bring riders up to the starting grid just in time to prevent overheating.
It wasn’t just the weather though, the racing was hot and spicy and full of action.
u-17 men
Quebec’s Jacob Roy got the win and spearheaded a Quebec podium romp.
1. Jacob Roy (Ponsse)
2. Félix-Antoine Leclair (Siboire)
3. Nicolas Gauthier (Équipe du Québec)
u-17 women
Just lie Roy, Rafaelle Carrier led a three-woman sweep in the u-17 women’s race.
1.Rafaelle Carrier
2 Ayana Gagné
3 Lily-Rose Marois
u-19 women
Stimulus Orbea proved they are the junior team to beat, sweeping the podium. Marin Lowe took the win with the Holmgren sisters flanking her.
1. Marin Lowe (Stimulus Orbea)
2. Ava Holmgren (Stimulus Orbea)
3. Isabella Holmgren (Stimulus Orbea)
u-19 Men
1. Zorak Paille
2. Maxime St-Onge
3. Cam MacCallum
Elite women
After an early crash, Batty found herself behind her teammate Laurie Arsenault. But once she got going again she would power through and over take Arsenault, with her teammate and last year’s champ Jenn Jackson coming in third and creating the Canyon podium sweep.
1. Emily Batty (Canyon)
2. Laurie Arseneault (Canyon)
3. Jenn Jackson (Canyon)
u-23 women
Marianne Théberge took a dominant win going away early, taking the win over Jocelyn Stel and Roxanne Vermette.
1. Marianne Théberge (Pivot Cycles-OTE)
2. Jocelyn Stel (Canyon)
3. Roxane Vermette (Stimulus Orbea)
u-23 men
Carter Woods was the strongest from the first lap–he was so fast that his times would have placed him in at least the top-four of the elite men’s race.
1. Carter Woods (Norco)
2. Cole Punchar
3. Owen Clark
Elite men
Norco’s Peter Disera took a huge win in a dramatic elite men’s race which saw Tyler Orschel and his brother Quinton duke it out.
It was a cat + mouse game between the Disera brothers and Tyler Orschel, each being the lead rider over the course of 5️⃣ laps at
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