A Rossland mountain biker strutted her skills on the descent at the cross-country mountain biking event that took place in town from Saturday to Monday.
Kirsty Exner finished first in timed descent for the Singletrack 3 Open Women over the first three stages of the Singletrack 6 mountain bike race.
She finished the first stage — 40.2 kilometers on trails south of the city — in 6:35.1, the second — 32.6 km on trails in the Red Mountain area — in 8:23.7 and the third — 35.2 km on Seven Summits and Dewdney Trail — in 15:43.2.
“They were really hard. The Seven Summits was hard but I thought that was the easiest day of the three,” said Exner.
She found the second stage to be the most challenging.
“It was just really intense heat and lots of uphill and just a really challenging course,” Exner said.
She says she was lucky in that she didn’t have any mechanical problems or injuries during any of the stages.
Nathalie Schneitter of Lommiswil Switzerland had faster descent times than Exner on each stage, but is participating in the Singletrack 6 Team Open Mixed event.
While TransRockies — the company running the event — allows racers to see their timed descent results, those results are for bragging rights only. Ultimately racers are awarded based on their overall time completing the course, but though Exner didn’t place as high in the overall results, she still came in fifth with a total time of 10:52:13.1 for all three stages and placed third for the ST3 Open Women on Stage 3.
Exner said she had an easier time on the descents.
“My cardio is average compared to the caliber of athlete that was there, but my downhill skills and also local knowledge of the trails was huge,” she said.
Singletrack 6 brought 325 riders from around the world to Rossland over the three days, and Exner said she was honoured to be a part of the event.
“It was kind of neat to be with people [who], this is their focus and this is their holiday, and this is what they’ve been training for, for a long time,” she said.
Meanwhile in the ST6 Solo 40+ Men category, another Rosslander, John Peachell, was in 28th place as of the finish of the third stage. He’ll be finishing his final race on Thursday.
On Tuesday, while standing track-side for Stage 4, Aaron McConnell, president of TransRockies, said he was happy with how the first three stages went.
“It went really well in Rossland. The community was very supportive and the riding was fantastic. I think it’s fair to say that the riders were blown away by the quality of the trails,” he said. “And having the third day on Seven Summits was especially memorable. People were really raving about it.”
By the end of Stage 3 on July 31, the results for Singletrack Six were as follows:
ST3 Open Men
First: Frédéric Gombert, Puylaurens, France
Second: Marc-André Daigle, Montreal, Que.
Third: Ricardo Puschel, Chile
ST3 Open Women
First: Chloe Cross, Whistler, B.C.
Second: Alana Heise, Calgary, Alta.
Third: Tara Miller, Cumberland, B.C.
ST6 Solo 40+ Women
First: Laurence Champavier, Lyon, France
Second: Margie Smith, Banff, Alta.
Third: Natalie Wood, Pemberton, B.C.
ST6 Solo 40+ Men
First: Michael Robinson, Whistler, B.C.
Second: Craig Stappler, Calgary, Alta.
Third: Hugo Bardou, Shefford, Que.
ST6 Solo 50+ Men
First: Pat Doyle, Calgary, Alta.
Second: Mimmo Futia, Kent, Wash.
Third: René Vallée, Salleles d’Aude, France
ST6 Solo Open Men
First: Justin Lindine, Ogden, Utah
Second: Evan Guthrie, Peachland, B.C.
Third: Taylor Lideen, Phoenix, Ariz.
ST6 Solo Open Women
First: Terri Rhodes, Mile End, Australia
Second: Nicole Muzechka, Calgary, Alta.
Third: Jennifer Schulz, Kelowna, B.C.
ST6 Team 80+ Men
First: Christoph Zimmermann and Tobias Zaehringer, Kirchzarten and Stuttgart, Germany
Second: Christian Gauvin and Ian Carbonneau, Bromont and Dorval, Que.
Third: Bas Van Lankvelt and Craig Fu…, Bragg Creek, Alta.
ST6 Team Open Men
First: Chris Benson and Travis Hauck, West Hawk Lake, Man. and Nelson, B.C.
Second: Chris Hladky and John Plumer, Fort McMurray, Alta.
Third: Lothar M. Schaer and Lothar…, Daeniken and Altishofen, Switzerland
ST6 Team Open Women
First: Mindy Mulliken and Karen Tremaine, Steamboat Springs, Colo.
Second: Samantha Salter and Megan…, Whitehorse, Yukon and Gibsons, B.C.
Third: Madelaine Bate and Marisa Tosi, Calgary, Alta.
ST6 Team Open Mixed
First: Justin and Carey Mark, Nanaimo, B.C.
Second: Jena Greaser and Dylan Bailey, Invermere, U.S.
Third: Nathalie and Michael Schneitter, Lommiswil, Switzerland
The event is continuing until the end of Thursday.
