Terrace Off Road Cycling Association (TORCA) wrapped up the season with its annual Flathead Flatout race Sept. 14, marking new race records for the men and women while celebrating Terrace’s bike community.
“It was a great day to wrap up the year. Racers were a bit down from last year,” said TORCA’s Tara Irwin in an email. “But more women out this year and way more of a cheering section.”
And this year saw the introduction of a new option for the race: a downhill-only section.
“The Terrace Mountain trail (Flathead) climbs for approximately five kilometres before descending for approximately two kilometres,” she said. “We offered the option of doing only the downhill. This was well-received and we will likely continue to offer this option in future years.”
The downhill-only race fits within a larger trend in mountain biking right now, the Enduro race.
These races see a majority of timed downhill sections in a race, as well as a smaller amount of untimed uphill and/or cross country sections. “Racing is over a series of special stages and whoever has the fastest combined time after those stages wins,” writes Matt Wragg for Pink Bike in his explainer, Beginners Guide to Enduro.
It’s easy to imagine an Enduro style race taking place here using Terrace’s trails in the future.
The overall winner of the Flathead race, Michael Jordan (36:55:00), hails from Prince Rupert, making his first place finish on unfamiliar turf all the more impressive. Jon Lambert (39:49:00) came in second, with James Clay (40:17:00) in third. Clay also took the top spot in the downhill-only portion of the race. Close behind Clay was Willie Muller (40:30:00) in fourth, then Mike Christiansen (42:29:00) in fifth and Helen Purlow (44:19:00) in sixth and first for the women.
Further overall results are as follows: Brice D. Cubin (47:51:00); Kyle Mason (48:16:00); Brina Healy (48:25:00); Jody Fink (49:16:00); Bruce Martindale (52:21:00); Cindy Drain (55:26:00); Kim Barriere (58:14:00); Ashley Borlase (64:56:00); Nichole Walker (69:70:00).
