Defending champion Geoff Kabush of Courtenay finished second in the Elite Men division of the 2014 Shimano Canadian Cyclocross Championships.
Kabush was in hot pursuit of eventual winner Mike Garrigan of Ontario and finished just three seconds behind him. The race was held Oct. 25 in Winnipeg.
Garrigan went hard right from the start, took a solid early lead, and maintained his gap at around 15 seconds throughout most of the race. Some solid cyclocross racers chased hard, with Kabush (SCOTT-3Rox Racing) and first-year elite rider Michel Van den Ham of Winnipeg (Trek Red Truck p/b Mosaic Homes) chasing hard to close the gap.
The two chase riders managed to get within five seconds of Garrigan, but ultimately ran out of real estate. Kabush launched an attack on Van den Ham with about two kilometres to go, but could not close the gap on Garrigan as he crossed the finish line.
Garrigan came first, three seconds ahead of Kabush, followed by the 2013 Canadian U23 Champion and local sensation Van den Ham shortly thereafter.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said Garrigan. “First off, I just came here for a good result. I came here because I knew it would be a good event. These guys in Manitoba have been saying they would put a good event. They’ve been preparing a lot, doing lots of stuff, and they pulled it off.”
“To see the guys close the gap back down with 2.5km to go, I told myself it would be a very tight finish. I knew I had to work hard for that gap, and that it took a bit of time early on. I thought they would need to work pretty hard to bring it back. I saved enough in the tank in case it came down to a sprint. Luckily for me, it didn’t come down to that.”
The race was held at national historic site “The Forks” at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in Winnipeg. Large crowds converged to the popular touristic venue to cheer on Canada’s top cyclocross racers.
Racers were treated to a fantastic fall day at the venue in the heart of downtown Winnipeg. The course featured many obstacles, both natural and man-made structures such as sand pits, cobblestones, steep climbs, side hills, elevated platforms and steps, just to name a few.
– Cycling Canada
