First of, I must thank all the volunteers that made this happen, and the paid trail crew that worked all summer on many of the trails ridden: Andy James (kids race), Mike Iverson (trails, sign-up, and check), Jodi (sign-up, check), Mike Charchuck (trails, kids race), Tim Agar (arrowing & pre-ride, kids race, sweep) and the trail crew - Dianne, Chris, Keaton, Nick, and Trevor.
Left Victoria that morning hoping against all weather reports for light showers. Pavement was dry at home, raining buckets by the time we got to Sooke. Maybe we will get seven riders I mumbled to Jodi on the way out. 15 mm of rain, with sun the day before and after. Soil went from tack to slime. Fifty heart souls showed up to stand under the four tents (KTM, Gas Gas, Kawasaki, Honda) provided by the local dealers with the Kids Race starting at 10:20
Equalizer '09
Race results for Kids Hare Scramble 1.5 K loop Sept-6-09 1st place with 3 laps (in 15 mins) Patrick Fair on a Gas Gas 50cc trial
2nd place with 3 laps (only 7 seconds behind Patrick) Colin Auchterlonie on a KX 85
3rd place with 2 laps Ryan Auchterlonie (cousin to Colin) on a KTM 85
4th place with 2 laps Nicholas James on a TT-R 90 (stalling within sight of the finish line)
5th place with 2 laps Josh Hasset on a KX-85 (recovering nicely from a few mishaps)
Main Event: 45 riders riding either an A or B loop. 1 lap for the novices, 2 for Intermediate and Vet Experts (12 - 17 km/hr), and 3 laps for the Experts (18 - 24 km/hr). The course went up the mountain and returned to the pits, then went back up the mountain on the west side and returned for a little under 30 km laps. There were 3 A/B splits, with a good serving of true A to those choosing to call themselves A riders. The B riders still had it tough in a few sections of the new hare scrabble circuit after all the rains, but otherwise they were spared the tougher trails at Tansky. Course was: A loop = 29.5 km, B loop = 26.2 km
First out at 11:20 am. Last back at 17:09
1) Ken K. of the KenCo race team (Expert) Ken's quote before his going out on the last 1/2 of the 2nd lap: "If I don't come back, just put dumb %$#& on my tombstone". Lucky for him he stuck it out. 2) Andy James (Intermediate) 3) Kerrie Stokes (Novice) 4) Ryan Clarke (Expert) 5) Wayne Anderson of the Kenco race team (Intermediate)
All smiles and mud, though Gary N. said, with a smile, "You should run while you can" after the first lap. "I'll just make that my Brentwood circuit". Experts were to run three laps, but they were all quitters after two. Mumbling something about mud and hills. There was a hill with more foot marks then treads. Nobody made the 2:30 cut to go back out for the 3rd lap. A number of novices stuck with it and finished, with Kerrie coming in 3rd.
Hope everyone comes out again next year. We will have even more trail, a new parking facility with rough camping. Make it a weekend outing for the family.
Thanks to all the BCORMA Trail Pass holders for supporting the sport and the trails. Visit our website for up to date news, maps, forums for trail pass holders.
If you have any questions or ideas for next year, please email me at
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. Tim said he would handle all complaints.
-- Peter Sprague, MSc. Executive Director British Columbia Off-Road Motorcycling Association -The voice of BC off-road motorcycling http://bcorma.ca 250-412-3444
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