Boogaloo isn’t just a fun word to say, it’s the name of fun trails to ride, say bikers.
“It was really fun. Whoever designed the course this year did an excellent job,” said rider David Gonda. “A good variety of climbing and some really fun downhills and some trails you don’t normally ride. There was a little something for everyone.”
“It was a really nice course, especially the second half below the power line,” said Kristenn Magnusson. “There were trails linked together in ways that we don’t often link them together on a ride. So it was nice to ride trails a different direction than we normally would or turn where we normally would not.”
The mountain bike racing season jumped into gear with the Boogaloos Race on Sunday at the Grey Mountain trails that include, among others, Downtown Boogaloo, Boogaloo Heights, Boogaloo North and Lower Boogaloo.
Gonda, who is a four-time Yukon mountain bike champ, began the season with a win. The 29-year-old came first on the 24-kilometre long course with a time of one hour, 19 minutes and 43 seconds. He also won the race in 2013.
“It’s the first race in the spring for mountain biking, so it’s a good way to get a hard workout, especially for people training for other races, it’s a good practice for those,” said Gonda.
Magnusson took first for women on the long course, crossing the finish in 1:40:21.
It wasn’t her season-opening race. It wasn’t even her first race of the weekend.
The 39-year-old produced fourth- and fifth-place finishes in the Vancouver Island MTB Race Series in April.
She was also the top solo woman rider in the 173-kilometre Southern Lakes Yukon GanFondo road race on Saturday.
“Today and yesterday, it was good to see other racers out and everyone having a good time, supporting each other, cheering each other on,” said Magnusson, the 2014 Yukon women’s mountain bike champ.
The eighth annual Boogaloo event, hosted by the Contagious Mountain Bike Club, had 69 participants, including 15 youth run bike racers.
“It’s nice that the bike club has so many dedicated volunteers who are put on these events because it takes a lot of people,” said Gonda.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com
Results
Men’s long (24 km)
1st David Gonda - 1:19:43
2nd Preston Blackie - 1:25:47
3rd Bill Slater - 1:29:53
4th Jean-Paul Molgat - 1:33:32
5th Marcus Wattereus - 1:36:19
Women’s long (24 km)
1st Kristenn Magnusson - 1:40:21
2nd Erin Light - 2:02:42
3rd Monika Melnychuk - 2:27:18
4th Nadia Doerksen - 2:30:17
5th Esther Border - 2:31:00
Men’s medium (16 km)
1st Caleb Light - 1:08:37
2nd Louis Mouchet - 1:27:37
3rd Jude Slater - 1:30:24
4th Orin Gladwin - 1:32:56
5th Stefan Gladwin - 1:32:57
Women’s medium (16 km)
1st Chrissy McConnell - 1:11:07
2nd Jen McGillivary - 1:14:52
3rd Jess Heath - 1:16:03
4th Jaylene Goorts - 1:21:18
5th Luanda Provonost - 1:31:56
Men’s short (12 km)
1st Axel Anderson - 1:07:35
2nd Owen Hogan - 1:17:05
Women’s short (12 km)
1st Adelle Anderson - 1:19:34
2nd Jordan Minifie - 1:23:04
Youth division (7 km)
1st Mavik MacKinnon - 55:38