Queen's Varsity Cycling Club hosted and competed in the first University Cup Mountain Bike Race since 2019 this past Saturday. Athletes completed two laps of an 8 km technical off road loop at the local community bike club venue, MTB Kingston. Racers did an amazing job through grueling muddy, wet and slippery conditions from the heavy rain fall the night before. The exciting mass start race began on a long road stretch, followed by a 180º through the MTB Kingston barn straight in to a technical pump track. The remainder of the course took racers through challenging single track containing wood and root features through the forest. The race finished through up a rocky technical uphill to the finish line stretch.
The event was entirely set up and run by the Queen's Varsity Cycling Club athletes, led by team captain Henry Dowd.
The event hosted a total of 46 athletes from 11 different institutions including the University of Ottawa, University of Waterloo, Carlton University, McMaster University, University of Guelph, McGill University, University of Toronto, Seneca College, York University, and Queen's. The Gaels had 13 mountain bike athletes race this weekend and the road cycling athletes did an amazing job supporting the mountain bike athletes and volunteering to help with the success of the day.
Queen's led the overall team category, followed by the University of Waterloo and University of Guelph in second and third respectively. The Gaels also swept the podium in both Women's and Men's categories. Kaitlyn Shikaze won the Women's division followed by Hannah Rydlo in second and Sarah Fabbro in third. Jack Ciotlos won the Men's division in an exciting sprint finish with second place finisher Seamus Carlyle and Taegan McGuire in third place.
The event would not have been successful without the support of many cycling community sponsors. MTB Kingston graciously provided an excellent race venue and helped with course set up, Subaru Kingston provided race day support and local bike shop Frontenac Cycle provided neutral mechanical support for all the athletes in attendance. Trek Kingston, Peppermint Cycling Company, Rally Beer Company, and Cannondale all provided amazing prizes for our podium winners and raffle prize winners as well.
