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The BVI Mountain Bike Club is grateful for the
support of our sponsors
support of our sponsors
28 MAY 2008
Nearly 70 spectators joined the 24 competitors on the ferry from
Road Town to Anegada on Sunday for the Rawlinson & Hunter
Anegada Desert Duel.
Orano Matthews won this years race in a sprint finish with Mark Smith
after the battling through the deep sand of Anegada's roads for over
an hour.
With the temperature reaching 102 degrees and the lack of rain over
recent weeks the Sand had had plenty of opportunity to dry out and
was so deep in parts that the riders were forced to walk their bikes as
they got bogged down.
Speaking after the race, 8th place Hank Vergeer joked "this race will
be on the list of things never to do again, I ran out of water on the
north shore road and it wasn't until I found someone in the Settlement
who let me have some water from his house that I was able to carry
on!"
The race started at Anegada Reef Hotel before heading west to Cow
Wreck Beach and then along the North Shore Road to Loblolly and
then through the Settlement to finish where it started.
"The sand was much softer than last year" said 2nd Place, Mark
Smith, "all credit to Orano, everytime he got stuck in the sand and I
managed to get an advantage, he would be straight back on my
wheel, he must have battled hard to catch up because I was giving it
everything I had, but he was wearing me down and when it came to
the Sprint I had nothing left".
Mirko Sangers in his first race put in an impressive performance to
get 3rd place ahead of Mike Doyle. Visiting New Zealander, Gordon
Bailey got a taste of BVI riding and managed to finish in 7th.
In the Intermediate category, riders completed a shorter course which
missed the long ride out to Loblolly, however they still sufferred the
deep sand with Craig Chomiak taking the win and leaving Dean
Fonseca & Scott Mcghee to sprint for 2nd and 3rd place. It was Dean,
fresh from the Juniour Caribbean Championships who took the prize.
In the Junior Category, Elsa Meyers took first place with Adele Perrot
taking first in the Social Category ahead of Anna Bullimore and
Brigitte Gerster.
The BVI Mountain Bike Club would like to extend their thanks to race
sponsor Rawlinson & Hunter, without who the race would not have
been able to go ahead.
One Tuff Mudda, Too Tough?
view gallery
The Corsairs Bar One Tuff Mudda proved too tuff for nearly all the
riders who competed in Sunday's race, with only Mark Smith making
the full 3 lap distance to take his 2nd win of the year and maximum
points in the Last Stop Sports Championship.
Four riders from Lousiana joined riders from the BVI in what was
billed as the toughest mountain bike race this side of the Caribbean,
and Brady Kendal, 2005 US National Sport Champion agreed, "That
was certainly one of the hardest races I've ever taken part in, the
heat and steepness of the climbs was unbelievable".
Initially planned for 2 full circuits of Jost Van Dyke, the course had to
be shortened due to the road being in such a deteriorated state that
it was almost impossible to walk up, let alone ride. The now 3 lap 11.5
mile course however proved to be a tough challenge for all the riders.
Riders lined up outside Corsair's bar in Great Harbour where owner
and sponsor of the race Vinny sent them off in the direction of White
Bay. Brady Kendall set an early pace with Mark Smith following close
behind and Leonard Service keeping the pressure up. With the first
climb out of the way the riders headed down into White Bay and onto
the formidable concreted climb that would take them onto the ridge
road. With an average gradient of nearly 24% Kendall was first to
crack and having ridden half way up he was forced to walk.
Smith took the King of the Hill title by riding the climb to the top, and
started to build his lead on the following dirt climb. The dirt road had
little traction and both riders were forced to walk the steep early climb,
and then alternated between riding and walking to the top of the climb.
The descent into Great Harbour was almost as challenging as the
climb, and the loose stones forced several riders to walk, however
Smith stayed on his bike and carefully descended.
Kay Reddy, riding the Intermediate race, wasn't so lucky, building
speed on the fast concrete section, she let her concentration lapse
on the bottom of the descent and found her self airborne with her
bike cart wheeling away from her. Although badly cut and grazed Kay
was unable to continue due to bike damage.
With Smith taking a 3 minute lead over Kendall into the 2nd lap, he
consolidated his position with another all out effort on the climbs and
with the heat hitting 115 degrees, took the 2nd lap easier. Kendall
however was suffering, only having arrived the previous day and at
the end of the 2nd lap retired through fear of heat stroke.
Mike Doyle took advantage of the loose surfaces, catching and
passing Leonard Service to take an impressive 3rd place. With Rusty
Burns and Tom Merrigan placing 5th & 6th respectively.
In Intermediate (1 lap), Rebecca Reece proved too much competition
for the 2 ladies from Louisiana and took 1st place over Renee Beyer
and Staci Kendal, with Rhiannon Jones taking 4th place honours.
Results.
Expert
1st Mark Smith 1.43:27
2nd Brady Kendall 1.13:42 (2 Laps)
3rd Mike Doyle 1.15:37 (2 Laps)
4th Leonard Service 1.29:53 (2 Laps)
5th Rusty Burns 1.35:28 (2 Laps)
6th Tom Merrigan 1.39:40 (2 Laps)
Intermediate
1st Rebecca Reece 47:16
2nd Renee Beyer 52:35
3rd Staci Kendall 54:05
4th Rhiannon Jones 55:00
8 MAY 2008
20 Riders arrived at Jolly Roger Restaurant on Sunday for the BVI
Mountain Bike club's 4th race of the 2008 Last Stop Sports
Championship.
This year's race took a departure from the punishing climbing around
Belmont Estate and Steel Point and instead took riders on the 38.5
mile route to the airport and back taking in the climbs at Pieces of
Eight and Slaney hill as well as the coast road climbs.
In the Expert category a group of 4 riders, Chris Ghiorse, Gareth
Thomas, Andrew "Tubes" Thompson and Mark Smith made an early
break from the rest of the pack and worked together to build a
significant lead before the first of the climbs. The 4 stayed close
together over Pieces of Eight, then Chris & Mark opened a small gap
on Slaney, but were quickly caught through Road Town.
It wasn't until Sophie Bay Hill, when Mark Smith suffered a jumping
chain, that the 4 were separated and Smith got left behind on the
climb. Some hard work followed until Smith managed to catch the
others just past the college.
The four remained as they were to the airport and over the climbs
back to town and although there were some attempts by each rider to
break free, the four ended up the race with a sprint finish at West End
with Chris Ghiorse taking the win over Andrew Thompson with Gareth
Thomas and Mark Smith sharing 3rd place in a too close to call finish.
Tim Clipston put in an impressive effort to drop Darrel Christopher Jr
to take 5th place and a fast ride from Sally Blackmore put her in front
of Darrel to by nearly 4 minutes. Jim Cullimore proved that the
Veteran racers can still challenge the younger riders, whilst Antony
"Chopstrong" Spencer struggled with an unfamiliar bike.
Intermediate rider Mike Doyle took the victory over an unlucky Andy
Stanbury who flatted over the shorter course to Purcell.
The social class was a battle of the ladies with Rebecca Smith edging
out Adele Perrot and Anna Kinnersly to take the win.
The club would like to thank all the Volunteers, BVI Red Cross, Last
Stop Sports, Road Town Whole, VI Block and Caribbean Insurers.
The next race in the Last Stop Sports Championship will be the
Corsairs Bar One Tuff Mudda on May 25th. For more details visit www.
bvimtbclub.com
Full Results
Expert
1. Chris Ghiorse 2.05:27
2. Andrew Thompson 2.05:27
3. Gareth Thomas 2.05:28
3. Mark Smith 2.05.28
5. Tim Clipstone 2.19.37
6. Sally Blackmore 2.22:56
7. Darrel Christopher Jr 2.26:39
8. Jim Cullimore 2.27:38
9. Antony Spencer 2.33:30
10. Rusty Burns 2.35:36
11. Kay Reddy 2.38:36
12. Joe Giacinto 2.45:04
13. Tom Merrrigon 2.46:30
14. Darrel Clyne 2.40:58 (Missed 2 Hills)
Intermediate
1. Mike Doyle 1.35:59
2. Andy Stanbury DNF
Social
1. Rebecca Smith 1.16:22
2. Adele Perrot 1.20:20
3. Anna Kinnersly 1.24:29
14 April 2008
A strong turnout of 22 riders tackled the BVI Mountain Bike Club -
Virgin Gorda Mineshaft Challenge last Sunday.
Dive BVI sponsored the event and transported riders from Tortola to
join Virgin Gorda based riders for the annual race also known as the
Tour de VG.
The 15 mile course started at the Mineshaft Cafe and took riders
through Spanish Town, over the hills to Mahoe Bay, through Nail Bay
Resort and over Gorda Peak to return to the finish at the Mineshaft.
Visting from Vermont, Ben Gilberford and Jamie Wert took joint first
place with a very strong ride finishing over 8 minutes in front of Mark
Smith who added to his points total in the Last Stop Sports BVI MTB
Club Championship.
Ben & Jamie were in the initial fast starting pack led by Mark Smith,
Gareth Thomas & Jim Cullimore joined the group as they headed
from the Mineshaft to the first climb over to Savannah Bay, the
leaders kept the pace up and by the time the group reached the off
road section into Nail Bay the group had been reduced to Ben, Jamie,
Mark & Gareth.
It was in the first steep climb in Nail Bay that Ben & Jamie pulled away
from Mark & Gareth, opening an early lead, Gareth pulled away from
Mark with some strong climbing, however he missed one of the
direction arrows and waited for Mark to make sure he was going the
right way. Once on the dirt climb to Gorda Peak Ben & Jamie worked
together and opened up a huge advantage over the chasing Gareth,
who himself was opening up a big gap over Mark.
Further down the field Jim Cullimore was climbing strongly, but
suffered a chain suck which took a couple of minutes to fix, Peter
LeBlanc, riding a cyclocross bike was tussling with VG resident
Andrew Waters.
The 2 women riders, Sally Blackmore & Kay Reddy were also giving
each other a fight whilst Mike Doyle, having missed the turning for the
Social riders was putting in an unexpected effort on the steep climb.
Back at the front of the race Ben & Jamie rejoined the paved road to
take a nearly 10 minute lead over the top of Gorda Peak, with Gareth
having a 4 minute lead on Mark Smith. However Gareth's lead
evaporated on the Descent with a faster (& heavier) Mark Smith
taking advantage of gravity and descending much faster than Gareth
to snatch 3rd place.
The visting Americans kept their position all the way to the finish with
a hard chasing Smith taking some time back from them, but not nearly
enough. Gareth missed the turn that would take him through the
Valley to the finish line and handed his 4th place to Peter LeBlanc.
In the Intermediate race Rhiannon Jones, competing for the first time,
took a win on the Shorter Course that excluded the climb to Gorda
Peak and Paul Gondek, also a first time rider, placed first over Nicole
Charles in the Social race.
Up coming Cadet riders Eben Meyers & Charlie Clipstone completed
an alternate course from the Mineshaft to Coppermine point, with
Eben winning the 2 lap race.
Full Results below.
The BVI Mountain Bike Club would like to thank Last Stop Sports,
Dive BVI, The Mineshaft Cafe and Road Town Wholesale for
sponsoring this event and the BVI Red Cross and Elsa Meyers for
giving their time to assist.
The next race will be the Jolly Roger Highway Challenge on May 4th.
More details to follow.
Results
Expert
1. Ben Gilberford 1.13:07
1. Jamie Wert 1.13:07
3. Mark Smith 1.21:13
4. Peter LeBlanc 1.32:07
5. Anthony Waters 1.34:07
6. Tim Clipstone 1.38:17
7. Jim Cullimore 1.47:25
8. Sally Blackmore 1.53:24
9. Kay Reddy 1.56:19
10. Rusty Burns 1.58:48
11. Mike Doyle 2.02:40
12. Tom Merrigon 2.04:53
Gareth Thomas DNF
Joe Giacinto DNF
Andy Stanbury DNF
Intermediate
1. Rhiannon Jones 1.21:21
Social
1. Paul Gondek 29.80
2. Nicole Charles 35.40
Cadets
1. Eben Meyers 13.48
2. Charlie Cliptsone 16.37
News January to March 2008
Nearly 70 spectators joined the 24 competitors on the ferry from
Road Town to Anegada on Sunday for the Rawlinson & Hunter
Anegada Desert Duel.
Orano Matthews won this years race in a sprint finish with Mark Smith
after the battling through the deep sand of Anegada's roads for over
an hour.
With the temperature reaching 102 degrees and the lack of rain over
recent weeks the Sand had had plenty of opportunity to dry out and
was so deep in parts that the riders were forced to walk their bikes as
they got bogged down.
Speaking after the race, 8th place Hank Vergeer joked "this race will
be on the list of things never to do again, I ran out of water on the
north shore road and it wasn't until I found someone in the Settlement
who let me have some water from his house that I was able to carry
on!"
The race started at Anegada Reef Hotel before heading west to Cow
Wreck Beach and then along the North Shore Road to Loblolly and
then through the Settlement to finish where it started.
"The sand was much softer than last year" said 2nd Place, Mark
Smith, "all credit to Orano, everytime he got stuck in the sand and I
managed to get an advantage, he would be straight back on my
wheel, he must have battled hard to catch up because I was giving it
everything I had, but he was wearing me down and when it came to
the Sprint I had nothing left".
Mirko Sangers in his first race put in an impressive performance to
get 3rd place ahead of Mike Doyle. Visiting New Zealander, Gordon
Bailey got a taste of BVI riding and managed to finish in 7th.
In the Intermediate category, riders completed a shorter course which
missed the long ride out to Loblolly, however they still sufferred the
deep sand with Craig Chomiak taking the win and leaving Dean
Fonseca & Scott Mcghee to sprint for 2nd and 3rd place. It was Dean,
fresh from the Juniour Caribbean Championships who took the prize.
In the Junior Category, Elsa Meyers took first place with Adele Perrot
taking first in the Social Category ahead of Anna Bullimore and
Brigitte Gerster.
The BVI Mountain Bike Club would like to extend their thanks to race
sponsor Rawlinson & Hunter, without who the race would not have
been able to go ahead.
One Tuff Mudda, Too Tough?
view gallery
The Corsairs Bar One Tuff Mudda proved too tuff for nearly all the
riders who competed in Sunday's race, with only Mark Smith making
the full 3 lap distance to take his 2nd win of the year and maximum
points in the Last Stop Sports Championship.
Four riders from Lousiana joined riders from the BVI in what was
billed as the toughest mountain bike race this side of the Caribbean,
and Brady Kendal, 2005 US National Sport Champion agreed, "That
was certainly one of the hardest races I've ever taken part in, the
heat and steepness of the climbs was unbelievable".
Initially planned for 2 full circuits of Jost Van Dyke, the course had to
be shortened due to the road being in such a deteriorated state that
it was almost impossible to walk up, let alone ride. The now 3 lap 11.5
mile course however proved to be a tough challenge for all the riders.
Riders lined up outside Corsair's bar in Great Harbour where owner
and sponsor of the race Vinny sent them off in the direction of White
Bay. Brady Kendall set an early pace with Mark Smith following close
behind and Leonard Service keeping the pressure up. With the first
climb out of the way the riders headed down into White Bay and onto
the formidable concreted climb that would take them onto the ridge
road. With an average gradient of nearly 24% Kendall was first to
crack and having ridden half way up he was forced to walk.
Smith took the King of the Hill title by riding the climb to the top, and
started to build his lead on the following dirt climb. The dirt road had
little traction and both riders were forced to walk the steep early climb,
and then alternated between riding and walking to the top of the climb.
The descent into Great Harbour was almost as challenging as the
climb, and the loose stones forced several riders to walk, however
Smith stayed on his bike and carefully descended.
Kay Reddy, riding the Intermediate race, wasn't so lucky, building
speed on the fast concrete section, she let her concentration lapse
on the bottom of the descent and found her self airborne with her
bike cart wheeling away from her. Although badly cut and grazed Kay
was unable to continue due to bike damage.
With Smith taking a 3 minute lead over Kendall into the 2nd lap, he
consolidated his position with another all out effort on the climbs and
with the heat hitting 115 degrees, took the 2nd lap easier. Kendall
however was suffering, only having arrived the previous day and at
the end of the 2nd lap retired through fear of heat stroke.
Mike Doyle took advantage of the loose surfaces, catching and
passing Leonard Service to take an impressive 3rd place. With Rusty
Burns and Tom Merrigan placing 5th & 6th respectively.
In Intermediate (1 lap), Rebecca Reece proved too much competition
for the 2 ladies from Louisiana and took 1st place over Renee Beyer
and Staci Kendal, with Rhiannon Jones taking 4th place honours.
Results.
Expert
1st Mark Smith 1.43:27
2nd Brady Kendall 1.13:42 (2 Laps)
3rd Mike Doyle 1.15:37 (2 Laps)
4th Leonard Service 1.29:53 (2 Laps)
5th Rusty Burns 1.35:28 (2 Laps)
6th Tom Merrigan 1.39:40 (2 Laps)
Intermediate
1st Rebecca Reece 47:16
2nd Renee Beyer 52:35
3rd Staci Kendall 54:05
4th Rhiannon Jones 55:00
8 MAY 2008
20 Riders arrived at Jolly Roger Restaurant on Sunday for the BVI
Mountain Bike club's 4th race of the 2008 Last Stop Sports
Championship.
This year's race took a departure from the punishing climbing around
Belmont Estate and Steel Point and instead took riders on the 38.5
mile route to the airport and back taking in the climbs at Pieces of
Eight and Slaney hill as well as the coast road climbs.
In the Expert category a group of 4 riders, Chris Ghiorse, Gareth
Thomas, Andrew "Tubes" Thompson and Mark Smith made an early
break from the rest of the pack and worked together to build a
significant lead before the first of the climbs. The 4 stayed close
together over Pieces of Eight, then Chris & Mark opened a small gap
on Slaney, but were quickly caught through Road Town.
It wasn't until Sophie Bay Hill, when Mark Smith suffered a jumping
chain, that the 4 were separated and Smith got left behind on the
climb. Some hard work followed until Smith managed to catch the
others just past the college.
The four remained as they were to the airport and over the climbs
back to town and although there were some attempts by each rider to
break free, the four ended up the race with a sprint finish at West End
with Chris Ghiorse taking the win over Andrew Thompson with Gareth
Thomas and Mark Smith sharing 3rd place in a too close to call finish.
Tim Clipston put in an impressive effort to drop Darrel Christopher Jr
to take 5th place and a fast ride from Sally Blackmore put her in front
of Darrel to by nearly 4 minutes. Jim Cullimore proved that the
Veteran racers can still challenge the younger riders, whilst Antony
"Chopstrong" Spencer struggled with an unfamiliar bike.
Intermediate rider Mike Doyle took the victory over an unlucky Andy
Stanbury who flatted over the shorter course to Purcell.
The social class was a battle of the ladies with Rebecca Smith edging
out Adele Perrot and Anna Kinnersly to take the win.
The club would like to thank all the Volunteers, BVI Red Cross, Last
Stop Sports, Road Town Whole, VI Block and Caribbean Insurers.
The next race in the Last Stop Sports Championship will be the
Corsairs Bar One Tuff Mudda on May 25th. For more details visit www.
bvimtbclub.com
Full Results
Expert
1. Chris Ghiorse 2.05:27
2. Andrew Thompson 2.05:27
3. Gareth Thomas 2.05:28
3. Mark Smith 2.05.28
5. Tim Clipstone 2.19.37
6. Sally Blackmore 2.22:56
7. Darrel Christopher Jr 2.26:39
8. Jim Cullimore 2.27:38
9. Antony Spencer 2.33:30
10. Rusty Burns 2.35:36
11. Kay Reddy 2.38:36
12. Joe Giacinto 2.45:04
13. Tom Merrrigon 2.46:30
14. Darrel Clyne 2.40:58 (Missed 2 Hills)
Intermediate
1. Mike Doyle 1.35:59
2. Andy Stanbury DNF
Social
1. Rebecca Smith 1.16:22
2. Adele Perrot 1.20:20
3. Anna Kinnersly 1.24:29
14 April 2008
A strong turnout of 22 riders tackled the BVI Mountain Bike Club -
Virgin Gorda Mineshaft Challenge last Sunday.
Dive BVI sponsored the event and transported riders from Tortola to
join Virgin Gorda based riders for the annual race also known as the
Tour de VG.
The 15 mile course started at the Mineshaft Cafe and took riders
through Spanish Town, over the hills to Mahoe Bay, through Nail Bay
Resort and over Gorda Peak to return to the finish at the Mineshaft.
Visting from Vermont, Ben Gilberford and Jamie Wert took joint first
place with a very strong ride finishing over 8 minutes in front of Mark
Smith who added to his points total in the Last Stop Sports BVI MTB
Club Championship.
Ben & Jamie were in the initial fast starting pack led by Mark Smith,
Gareth Thomas & Jim Cullimore joined the group as they headed
from the Mineshaft to the first climb over to Savannah Bay, the
leaders kept the pace up and by the time the group reached the off
road section into Nail Bay the group had been reduced to Ben, Jamie,
Mark & Gareth.
It was in the first steep climb in Nail Bay that Ben & Jamie pulled away
from Mark & Gareth, opening an early lead, Gareth pulled away from
Mark with some strong climbing, however he missed one of the
direction arrows and waited for Mark to make sure he was going the
right way. Once on the dirt climb to Gorda Peak Ben & Jamie worked
together and opened up a huge advantage over the chasing Gareth,
who himself was opening up a big gap over Mark.
Further down the field Jim Cullimore was climbing strongly, but
suffered a chain suck which took a couple of minutes to fix, Peter
LeBlanc, riding a cyclocross bike was tussling with VG resident
Andrew Waters.
The 2 women riders, Sally Blackmore & Kay Reddy were also giving
each other a fight whilst Mike Doyle, having missed the turning for the
Social riders was putting in an unexpected effort on the steep climb.
Back at the front of the race Ben & Jamie rejoined the paved road to
take a nearly 10 minute lead over the top of Gorda Peak, with Gareth
having a 4 minute lead on Mark Smith. However Gareth's lead
evaporated on the Descent with a faster (& heavier) Mark Smith
taking advantage of gravity and descending much faster than Gareth
to snatch 3rd place.
The visting Americans kept their position all the way to the finish with
a hard chasing Smith taking some time back from them, but not nearly
enough. Gareth missed the turn that would take him through the
Valley to the finish line and handed his 4th place to Peter LeBlanc.
In the Intermediate race Rhiannon Jones, competing for the first time,
took a win on the Shorter Course that excluded the climb to Gorda
Peak and Paul Gondek, also a first time rider, placed first over Nicole
Charles in the Social race.
Up coming Cadet riders Eben Meyers & Charlie Clipstone completed
an alternate course from the Mineshaft to Coppermine point, with
Eben winning the 2 lap race.
Full Results below.
The BVI Mountain Bike Club would like to thank Last Stop Sports,
Dive BVI, The Mineshaft Cafe and Road Town Wholesale for
sponsoring this event and the BVI Red Cross and Elsa Meyers for
giving their time to assist.
The next race will be the Jolly Roger Highway Challenge on May 4th.
More details to follow.
Results
Expert
1. Ben Gilberford 1.13:07
1. Jamie Wert 1.13:07
3. Mark Smith 1.21:13
4. Peter LeBlanc 1.32:07
5. Anthony Waters 1.34:07
6. Tim Clipstone 1.38:17
7. Jim Cullimore 1.47:25
8. Sally Blackmore 1.53:24
9. Kay Reddy 1.56:19
10. Rusty Burns 1.58:48
11. Mike Doyle 2.02:40
12. Tom Merrigon 2.04:53
Gareth Thomas DNF
Joe Giacinto DNF
Andy Stanbury DNF
Intermediate
1. Rhiannon Jones 1.21:21
Social
1. Paul Gondek 29.80
2. Nicole Charles 35.40
Cadets
1. Eben Meyers 13.48
2. Charlie Cliptsone 16.37
News January to March 2008
