Results

YALE LUX ET VELOCITAS: April 10th and 11th, 2010

After a one month hiatus from racing, Cycling at McGill returned to the United States this past weekend in partnership with the newly formed “Canadian Coalition” to further impress upon the American schools the Northern aptitude for riding bicycles. The “Canadian Coalition,” this weekend comprised of almost 20 riders from McGill, Concordia, Université de Montéal, and Université du Québec à Montréal, had another highly successful weekend (expertly organized by Allison Grover) at the Yale “Lux et Velocitas” event in New Haven, Connecticut, with podium finishes in several different categories and major improvement among all of the newer racers.

The weekend kicked off with the gradually uphill East Rock time trial, a sweeping, scenic course that wound its way up the mountain overlooking New Haven. The most consistent results of the weekend came from first-time Cycling @ McGill club member Jozina Vanderklok, who has earned the title “sandbagger in every category,” for her tendency to destroy the competition despite moving up from Women’s Intro in her first race at Rutgers all the way to the women’s B field at Yale. In the Individual Time Trial, Vanderklok bested the next fastest woman by more than a minute, and her time of 13:42.5 would have put her mid-pack even among the Men’s C riders. Mathieu Boudier- Revéret, the McGill Cycling Team’s climbing specialist, managed a 7th place finish among the Men’s A racers, but he lost some lost time early on due to uncertainty in the appropriate musical selection for his race. Brandon Tulloch and Ben Blake, the two other varsity athletes in attendance, placed 20th and 24th, respectively. Head Coach Ben Adler, racing in the USA Cycling Open category, squeaked out a 3rd place finish, despite his professed hatred of climbing anything longer than the stairs to his apartment.

The Men’s A Circuit Race saw excellent inter-team tactics as Canadian Coalition racers from UQAM, UdeM, and McGill, including Nicolas Therrien, Nicolas Ammerlaan, Ben Blake, and Brandon Tulloch all worked together to set up the McGill’s MVP Mathieu Boudier-Revéret for the final climb, where he put la pedale dans le tapis and sprinted away for 3rd place, officially the highest placing in the ECCC Men’s A category in the history of the McGill Cycling Team. One could say it was a birthday present to himself, as Boudier- Revéret celebrated his birthday the day before. The women’s combined A/B field saw another excellent result from Jozina Vanderklok, whose 4th place finish earned her the polka-dotted “climbers jersey” for the Women’s B category. Club member Veronica Wheeler finished not far behind in 10th place.

In the Men’s B circuit race, club member Jonathan Villemaire-Krajden showed the benefits of a winter’s training at the Powerwatts cycling studio, placing 24th, a big step up from his 2009 midpack finishes in the Men’s C field. In the Men’s D race, new recruit Max Dannenberg surprised even himself with an 8th place finish, perhaps attributable to a week of hard training in South Carolina earlier in the spring, and just behind Dannenberg came Steve Berthiaume from the University of Montréal, who finished 9th in his first ever bike race.

In Sunday’s Criterium, the A men rode strong throughout, where varsity team member Ben Blake sprinted to 4th in the first prime lap and Brandon Tulloch led the pack through several other laps, but no one could make anything stick in the end, and most of the Canadian Coalition ended up mid-pack. In the Women’s A/B race, Jozina Vanderklok again showed great promise, outsprinting most of the other girls in the prime laps, and holding steady in the top 10 throughout, but unfortunately was crashed out of contention in a questionably aggressive move by several University of New Hampshire riders. She escaped with minor scraps. Veronica Wheeler also earned some points by sprinting to 4th in one of the prime laps, and ended up in 6th place after escaping the crash. Jonathan Villemaire-Krajden repeated his solid performance in the Men’s B circuit race in Sunday’s Criterium, again finishing with the main pack in a very high-paced raced. The lone Cycling @ McGill club rider in Men’s C, John Danby, managed a very respectable 12th place in a large field, despite having no teammates in the race with whom he could work together.

The men’s D race saw Max Dannenberg riding strong again, but towards the end of the race he was caught behind a Yale rider who went down very hard, taking out several other racers. Dannenberg ran back to the start-finish and was allowed to jump back into the race, but unfortunately he was a lap down and could not manage to catch back up. Club member Jocelyn Berteaud managed to avoid all the crashes and rode very well, finishing with the pack in 17th, a personal best.

It was a highly successful weekend for all involved; special thanks go out to Allison Grover for undertaking the significant task of logistical organization, and to her parents, for supplying a delicious pizza dinner to all of the hungry cyclists. No one was left wanting for food, no small accomplishment in the world of competitive cycling.

Full results available at: http://www.velocityresults.net/results/252/eccc-week-6-yale-university-n...