Hattie takes P6 on legendary 1199
Whistler – for sure the most anticipated race of the season. Maybe even the most anticipated race of the decade as it was rumoured and talked about for so many years. We finally came to the home of mountain biking in British Columbia and will walk away with a very solid top-10 result and lots of new experiences.
Whistler is hosting the UCI MTB World Cup race for the first time in history, but we can already rank it among the best in the series. The race on the legendary track 1199 – honouring the first ever Canadian overall DH winner Stevie Smith aka Chainsaw – was brutal, but so exciting at the same time. It was super challenging with the mix of big features and natural technical sections. Stan declared it as the best track he has even ridden, the conditions however made it very challenging.
Hattie was our only rider in Sunday finals that brought thousands and thousands of fans to the Creekside race venue. She qualified in 4th and also did very good in the finals, but lost bits of time here and there and eventually finished in 6th. Very solid, but not where this champ wants to be. Hattie is now in 3rd overall, still very much in the battle for second.
Hattie: “Another solid top-10 result, and I’m still in the fight for the 2nd place overall. Great to come to the new Wordl Cup venue, especially as we had so many fans here.”
Reece, Henry and Stan didn’t qualify for the main race, despite their best efforts. Reece and Henry had off-track excursions in Q2, meanwhile Stan felt so good on his bike, but the time in the qualies didn’t agree. All of them showed very good pace in certain section and were close, so there is lots of motivation heading towards the last race of the season. Lake Placid & is just a week away!
Results DH – qualies / finals / overall:
Hattie – 4th / 6th / 3rd
Reece, Henry & Stan – did not qualify for the finals
Team rankings – 14th team od the day / 12th overall
Photos by Grega Stopar