Canadians dominate NW Cup season opener at Dry Hill

Canadians had a big weekend in Port Angeles, Washington at the NW Cup season opener. Held at the long-running Dry Hill course, this early-season race typically sees CanCon levels that the CRTC can only dream of. But this year, the Canadians nearly pulled off a complete sweep of all four premier categories.

In the pro men, pro women and junior men’s races, all three top spots went to Canucks. Tayte Proulx Royds added another podium in the junior women’s race.

Aletha Ostgaard, from nearby Selah, Washington earned the U.S. a win in the junior women’s (Cat. 1 U19) race. Ostgaard put in a blistering time that would have seen her podium the pro women’s race to take the top junior women’s spot. Tayte Proulx Royds (Kona) finished second, just beating out Oregon’s Jade Savage (Sweetlines).

Whistler’s Dylan Marino and Jake Polito went 1-3 for Outlaw Racing in the junior men’s (Cat 1 U19) race, with Wyatt Harrington splitting the teammates to take second place. Just 1.06-seconds separated the podium placings in a very tight finish for the junior men.

Andréane Lanthier Nadeau, moonlighting from enduro with her new Commencal 7Mesh team, lead a Canadian sweep in the pro women’s race. Emmy Lan (Forbidden Synthesis), Miranda Miller (SRAM), Gracey Hemstreet (Norco) and Bailey Goldstone completed the sweep in that order.

Jakob Jewett, fresh back from a string of podiums at Crankworx Rotorua, led the pro men’s sweep. The Pivot Factory Racing was just shy of a three-second winning margin over fellow sea-to-sky resident, Lucas Cruz (Norco). Mark Wallace finished third in his first podium for We Are One Momentum Project. Dane Jewett joined his brother on the podium in fourth with Gwen Racing’s Seth Sherlock rounding out the sweep.

Canadian downhill fans will also be stoked to see Magnus Manson (Forbidden Synthesis) back on a results sheet. The Vancouver Island racer finished 13th in the 54-rider field on Sunday.

Full category results from NW Cup #1 at Dry Hill are up now.

NW Cup racing returns to Dry Hill in a month (May 17-19) before the series moves on to Montana and Idaho. Most of the Canadians from this weekend’s podium will be back in action before that, though, when the 2024 World Cup downhill season kicks off in Fort William, Scotland on May 3-5.