Burns Lake Mountain Biking Association (BLMBA) hosted its fifth annual Big Pig Mountain Biking Festival Aug. 17 through 19.
The event saw participants from Prince George, Smithers, Ft. St. James, Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof, Hazelton, Terrace, Telkwa, Vernon, North Vancouver and Yellowknife.
The age categories were: cutlet (12 and under), junior tender (13 to 15 years), senior tender (16 to 18 years), lean (19 to 34 years), gristle (35 to 49 years) and freezer burn (50 plus years). In keeping with the pig theme, riders are either “boar” or “sow”.
Kid’s Events
This year’s Big Pig kicked off with the kid’s events on Friday night. 32 youth braved the over 30 degree weather to test their skills. The youth had the option of entering in downhill, cross-country and skills events. Locals Avril and Zoey Thom-Lucy tied for overall first in the sow division. Local Hannah Zayac was third. Trent Peters of Ft. St. James took overall first in the sow division, followed by Lucas Phillips of Burns Lake and Heiko Krause of Smithers. All youth were awarded with the ever-popular “cookie medal”.
Downhill race (Charlotte’s Web = 3.8 km)
In the boar category, cutlet winner was Heiko Krause of Smithers (12:25), second local Cormick Turner (15:05), and third local Cameron Stewart (15:09). Junior tender winner was Kelton Rainbacher of Prince George with a new course event record time of 10:06. Second went to local Cayden Martens (13:15) and third to Eli Gurtins of Burns Lake (13:26). Senior tender winner was Ben Yeager of Prince George (9:36), second local Andre Dube (9:57) and third Scott Mitchinson of Smithers (10:31).
Lean boar winner was Dylan Marek (9:43), second was Logan Malkow (9:53) and Curtis Hafsink (10:10), all of Smithers. In the Gristle category, Peter Krause of Smithers took first with a time of 9:56, second went to Brett Woods of Prince George (10:08), and Jason Barr of Vanderhoof was third (10:19). Burns Lake’s Guy Epkens-Shaffer was the lone freezer burn on the course this year, completing the race in a time of 14:16.
Junior tender sow winner was local Elise Dube (11:27). Lean winner was Laurel Akehurst of Fraser Lake (11:27). Gristle winner and top sow time was awarded to Nicole Leblanc of Prince George (10:51). Burns Lake’s Susan Russell and Patti Dube took second and third with times of 12:06 and 14:19.
4-Cross Race
The 4-cross race consists of four riders riding abreast, vying for the “best line” on a winding course consisting of table tops, step ups and berm turns. This year this event was once again an awesome spectator sport, with loads of thrills (and a few spills), and some very exciting rides! This year’s fastest overall four-cross rider was Willard Andal of Prince George.
Trent Peters of Ft. St. James was first in the tender group, with locals Douglas Alec-Lolly and Cole Bender taking second and third. The junior tender winner was Kelton Rainbacher of Prince George, second Yonni Tryjillo, also of Prince George and third went to Cormic Turner of Burns Lake. Prince George took all the senior tender winning positions: Willard Andal first, Ben Yeager second and Taylor Pacaud third. The senior men’s winner was Jason Barr of Vanderhoof, with Peter Krause of Smithers and Brett Woods or Prince George sharing second.
Local Elise Dube edged out the other sows for first place in the women’s four-cross, with Laurel Akehurst of Fraser Lake taking second, followed by Nicole Leblanc of Prince George in third.
Jump Jam
The Jump Jam consists of riding a series of dirt jumps, where riders are judged on amplitude, style and difficulty. Cutlet winner this year was Heiko Krause of Smithers, second Trent Peters of Ft. St. James, and third local Cameron Stewart. Junior tender first and second place were won by Prince George riders Yanni Tryjillo and Keltan Rainbacher. Prince George riders made a clean sweep of the senior tender division, with Zac Garrison in first place, followed by Willard Andal and Taylar Pacaud.
Dante’s Inferno
Dante’s Inferno has been increasing in length 10 km each year, with this year’s course rounding out at 60 kilometers! 22 riders took on the challenge for either the 30 or 60 km routes. Overall fastest times for boar/sow on the 60 km full Dante’s both in the gristle division: Peter Krause of Prince George and local Susan Russell.
David Charette of Hazelton braved the course as the lone cutlet entrant, completing the 60 km course in 5 hours, 40 minutes. In the lean boar division, David Nutbrown of Ft. St. James took first place in a time of 4:49, followed by Adam Spensley of Prince George (5:19) and local Matt Moore (5:35) . Locals Dave Sandsmark and Pat Dube tied for second in the gristle division (5:32), followed by local Ken Geisbrecht (6:01).
In the 30 km “½ Dante’s”, local Andre Dube took first in the boar senior tender division with a time of 2 hours, 25 minutes. Brian Hall of Vanderhoof was first in the lean division (2:38). Local Brian Wiebe was first in the gristle division (3:42), and local Kai Epkens was second (3:55). Chris Andrews of Vernon was fastest in the freezer burn division (2:53), followed by local Guy Epkens-Shaffer (3:24). Only two entered the sow division, with first and second place going to locals Shirley Wiebe (3:40) and Patti Dube (3:52). Wilbur’s Wheelay
This was the inaugural year for the Wilbur’s Wheelay, which can either be a team or solo event, and it turned out to be a popular addition to the Big Pig Festival. This relay consists of completing as many laps of a 5 kilometer course as possible within 3 hours. 11 teams entered the event, with the overall winner being solo Merle Tutte of Prince George completing 11 laps. Bill Livingstone of Prince George took second, slightly edging out Rob Lok of Yellowknife with each contender completing 9 laps. Teams completing the most laps in this event were “Freezer Burnt All Timers” – locals Aidan Carroll and Doug Campbell (9 laps), “Wheels” – locals Lyle Phillips and Eli Gurtins (8 laps), and the “Andal Family” – Isaak and Kaia Andal of Prince George (7 laps).
