MIVA Boxwood Criteriums 120703 Boxwood Road, Nanaimo, BC

Youth Event: 16 laps, 32.4kph

The third youth event in this year's series saw six starters - five from Courtenay/Comox and MIVA's sole Nanaimo representative, Brodie Hay. There were two new faces in Kia Van deer Vliet (a cycling name if there ever was one!) and Jane Harmsworth's younger sister Lindsay.. The field was rounded out by last week's winner, Eli Simcoe-Metcalfe, Jane, and Jessica Reynolds. As by far the youngest starter, Lindsay was instructed that once she drifted of the back, she should ease up and wait for the circling pack to catch her so that she could experience the higher speed for a while, and this she did.

The prime at six laps was easily taken by Eli and then he, Jessica and Kia formed a small group at the front of the race. Brodie lost contact and continued riding solo but stayed with the leaders once he was lapped, with three laps to go,. He again dropped back but managed to regain the pack with a lap to go and was third in the final sprint. Jane had dropped back and rode with her sister for a short while. She too was lapped with six laps to go but couldn't stay with the leaders and eventually finished alone in fifth place.

In the final sprint, Eli just managed to outgun Jessica for the win with Kia in third place at the same time.

It's great to see the youth riders out and it won't be too long before there are ten or more riders racing in this category

Main Event: 50 minutes plus 5 laps. 40.25km 58'20" 41.4kph

Eleven men and one woman contested this tenth race in the weekly criterium series. Glenda Harling only had to finish the event to earn her twelve points but husband Mike Sevcov bailed after only four laps (unusual for Mike) and so she exited a couple of laps later.

After only two laps, there was a split in the bunch and Last Sunday's Island Cup event winner, Warren Muir pushed up the pace, taking eight of the eleven remaining riders with him. Steve Crowley, Iain Hay and Mike Sevcov chased hard but just couldn't make any impression on the leaders. By the fourth lap, Mike had abandoned and Iain and Steve were losing ground, while Bill McMillan had also dropped from the lead pack. Within another two laps, Iain had retired too and Steve and Bill were now working together.

After just one more lap, Mark Wieler was shelled out of the pack and he too retired. By the bell lap for the first prime, the pack was down to five, with Kyle Waring struggling to maintain contact. On this lap, Mark also left the race.

Prime number one was taken convincingly by Warren, with Rob Russell and Ian Smith filling out the top three. Shepherd Stewart and John Lam was also in trouble and first John and then Shep dropped back. Then Rob Russell faltered, leaving just Warren and Ian in the lead. Shep retired a couple of laps later

The order on the road was now Warren and Ian, a gap to John, Rob having abandoned, another small gap to Kyle and then Bill and Steven Crowley chasing. However, by lap thirteen, Bill and Steven had clawed their way back towards Kyle, who was catching up on John - third on the road. By lap fifteen Kyle had caught John but the two were now lapped by Warren and Ian. The second prime was now approaching and four were there to contest it, lapped riders being allowed to sprint for intermediate primes. John took this sprint from Warren, with Ian in third place and Kyle remaining in contact. These four now stayed together while Bill and Steven were still advancing  and within another lap they were back with Kyle and John and they managed to stay with them.

That's the way it stayed for the rest of the race, with Kyle taking the fourth prime from John and Steve. Warren and Ian, being a lap up on everyone else had dropped back to allow the others to sprint for third place one lap before the final contest for the win. This secondary sprint was taken by Kyle, with John , Steve and Bill finishing behind in that order. The battle for the win was very close, with Warren just edging Ian in the sprint. This was one of the most exciting races of the series. With first class riders like Warren Muir and Ian Smith becoming regular contestants, the general standard of riding and speed are sure to improve. It should be noted that both Warren and Ian did a proper warm-up for this evening's race, doing a number of laps at race speed.

MIVA PROMOTIONS ISLAND CUP FINAL EVENT

Boxwood Circuit

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The weather wasn't kind today. This resulted in few riders: 3 in the C race, and no B competitors except a trio who elected to ride the next race. There were nine starters in this final A event.

In the C race, James and Mark Grant and Brodie Hay stayed pretty-well together for the entire fifteen lap race, even regrouping after the mid-race prime. James Grant took this and also the final sprint, with Brodie second and Mark finishing third, all in the same time.

The A race of forty-five minutes plus five laps was the fastest event yet on the Boxwood circuit, with Warren Muir, Top Gear Calgary, setting the pace right from the figurative gun. After five laps, the main group of five, comprising Muir, a trio of Pro City Cycles, and Menno Jongsma, MIVA, pushed the pace up a notch and left the remainder of the starters. Tom Malczynski, Pro City, was caught out by a sudden acceleration and pressed on alone, just behind the bunch. Iain Hay, who was suffering from a bout of stomach trouble, had eased off and rejoined the pack a lap down but soon retired.

By lap seven, there was a further split and Warren and teammate Alex Hui. broke from the rest of the group, the former taking the first prime in the process. Hui hung on for another three laps until he too was shelled by the speeding Top Gear rider (Clarkson would be pleased! lol).

Muir now went into time trial mode and continued to lap steadily at around 1'37", while the bunch prime at fifteen laps was won by James Cameron. Eventually, Muir had lapped all but two of the other competitors and by the finish was nearly a minute ahead of Cameron, who edged out Alex Hui. The Tom M. finished fourths, with Jongsma a further fifteen seconds down and the remainder of the starters a further thirty seconds back.

It rained all day and continued to do so right up to the start time of the Thursday event. Only one rider showed up. After a brief discussion, the majority of starters voted to truncate the distance to 20km. As she showed up before registration opened, Katy Condon was off first. However, as the fastest rider, she was also off last. Her twelve points give her a 24 point lead over second place Janna Gillick..  

Our Monday evening no-drop rides were such a success through April, May and June that we intend to continue through July and August. The next ride will be a 6:30PM start from the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre on July 9th. We will be experimenting with some new routes and start locations. An updated schedule with start locations will be added to the calendar in the next week or so. If you have any suggestions for a low-traffic loop of approximately 30km, please reply to this post.  

Thanks to all the volunteers who acted as leaders and sweeps over the past three months!

Youth Event: 16 laps, 31.6km  

Six starters for this second youth event. All from Courtenay/Comox. There were two girls and four boys so the decision was made to award separate points for each group. For the first couple of laps, the pack stayed together and then Eli Simcoe Metcalfe, CVCC and Damian Parlee, Cycle University quickly established a twenty second gap and that's the way it stayed for the balance of the race, with the gap increasing steadily. The prime was taken by Eli and then the lead duo settled down to maintain their lead. The four person chase group certainly had the horsepower to reel in the two leaders but seemed conrent to watch each other. After four laps, Jane Harmsworth, Cycle University, dropped off the chase group. At the line, it was Eli, with Damian in second place, seven seconds back. The “bunch” spritn for third was taken by James Grant, with Mark Grant and Jessica Reynolds finishing in the same time. Jane rolled in just over a lap down, having ridden most of the race on her own.

Main Event: 50 minutes plus 5 laps. 37Km

Fourteen riders started andthere was little action until the first prime, which was won by Paul Thompson from Ray Wagner. These two then stayed away for the next four laps but were pulled in just before the second prime at sixteen laps. This was won by junior, Andrew Grant, Cycle University, from Doug Merrick, CVCC and Ian Smith, MIVA. In the next couple of laps laps, a couple of different groups tried to establish a break. First, it was Ray Wagner, Ron Hewitson and Paul Thompson. Next, Ron and Paul dropped back and Ray was joined by Ian Smith and Mike Sevcov. This trio was joined by Doug Merrick and this time the attempt was successful. Over the next ten laps, the quartette worked well together and gained about three seconds per lap. With five laps to go, Merrick was almost dropped but found reserves somewhere and hung on until the end. At the line it was Ian Smith winning easily, with Ray Wagner and Doug Merrick clocking the same time and Master C rider Mike Sevcov coasting in at five seconds. The bunch sprintfor fifth, at twenty-two seconds, was won by Iain Hay from Kyle Waring and junior, Andrew Grant