Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
WEAVES HIS WAY TO VICTORY 鈥� Nicolas Filteau was the top solo male rider at the 24 Hours of Light mountain bike festival that began Saturday at noon at Biathlon Yukon鈥檚 headquarters on Grey Mountain.
Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
MAKING HER MARK 鈥� Erika 鈥楨nragika鈥� Joubert wore the best costume.
Photo by Marcel Vander Wier
QUICK BREATHER 鈥� Meagan Wilson was the top female solo rider.
Local cyclists make most of midnight sun鈥檚 rays
Mountain bikers from across the continent converged on the Yukon capital this weekend.
Mountain bikers from across the continent converged on the Yukon capital this weekend.
The 15th annual 24 Hours of Light mountain bike festival saw 170-plus cyclists take part in the event 鈥� a celebration of the territory鈥檚 midnight sun and single-track trail system.
Like last year, the race was held at Biathlon Yukon headquarters on Grey Mountain.
Beginning Saturday at noon, cyclists began pedalling around a 12-kilometre track with the purpose being to log as many laps as possible in 24 hours.
The only rule 鈥� no lights allowed.
And as always, there are strange things done in the midnight sun, said event co-organizer Jenn鈥圧oberts.
Baited by the opportunity to secure important bonus laps, many riders chose to ride the route naked, she chuckled.
Besting the field of 25 solo riders were Nicolas Filteau (solo men) and Meagan Wilson (solo women).
Whitehorse-based 鈥淭he return of the retreating invisible naked goblins鈥� earned the team 鈥� and overall 鈥� title.
On the roster were Verena Koenig, Matt Schenck, Isabel Beauregard, Anthony Bier and Nadele Flynn.
鈥淵ou get a bonus lap for the tandem or for not wearing clothes,鈥� Roberts said. 鈥淧eople ride and compete, but the whole point has always been fun. You don鈥檛 get this everywhere. There aren鈥檛 a lot of these left anymore.鈥�
Team 鈥淔ree Duke鈥� out of Anchorage completed the most laps without dipping into bonus categories.
Members of that team included: Kara Lackey, John Lackey, Jeff Ellis, Kikkan Randall, Chet Fehrmann and Alex Wilson.
Wilson and Randall are both Olympic-level skiers.
Total number of laps for winning teams were unavailable by press time today.
North Vancouver biker Davey Mitchell completed the quickest lap among males in 31:54, while Koenig had the fastest female lap in 38:40.
The event also included a youth category, with team 鈥淏oreale 2鈥� taking the crown with 17 laps total, including three bonus laps completed on a tandem bike.
That team was made up of Luanda Pronovost, Sonjaa Schmidt, Wynne Anderson-Lindsay, Victor Thibault and Gallagher d鈥橝bramo.
The youth event wrapped up at 8 p.m. Saturday.
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Comments (2)
Up 2 Down 20
Isabel on Jun 30, 2015 at 2:18 pm
They forgot to ad our crazy bike lap that Nadele won for us... which brings us to 38 laps!! So still overall winner! Go retreating invisible naked goblins
Up 4 Down 28
Whitehorse Star Sports on Jun 29, 2015 at 3:24 pm
CLARIFICATION: Organizers now say a four-man team called "Girls Weekend" won the overall title with 37 laps ridden. While "The return of the retreating invisible naked goblins" team also had 37 laps total, "Girls Weekend" was declared the overall winner because they came in four minutes ahead on the final lap. Team "Free Duke" completed 32 laps.
Members of "Girls Weekend" included: Paul Brackstone, Doug Terry, Rob McConnell and Kevin MacGillivray.