VeloNorth puts on time trial championship cycling race

VeloNorth had a good mixture of seasoned vets and first-timers in attendance at the biking club's Yukon Individual Time Trial Championships.

VeloNorth had a good mixture of seasoned vets and first-timers in attendance at the biking club’s Yukon Individual Time Trial Championships.

The championships were held Wednesday on the North Klondike Course, which was the third time this season it has been used by the club.

Racers competed under looming clouds, but as luck would have it the rain would hold off for the entire duration of the time trial.

Cycling conditions were wet from a down pour earlier in the day, but the relatively windless conditions made for some very impressive times on the 20-km course.

John Berryman enjoyed one of his best races of the season, finishing with a personal best time of 29:56. Berryman was the only competitor on Sunday to break the 30 minute barrier and his time meant he was averaging better than 40 km/hr.

“These (races) are always fun and it’s just a really good group of people too,” said Berryman. “Everybody is very supportive of each other no matter what your ability. We have a few people, who are more beginners this year and what is nice is they get probably bigger cheers than the faster people, so it’s nice.”

Cost to participate in the time trial championship race was $2 for all club members, while non-club members had to pay $5. Individuals also had to be insured by either belonging to VeloNorth or another club in the Yukon, which covered both organizers and participants in the race. Presently there is around 65 members in the VeloNorth Cycling Club.

This year VeloNorth cycling events have attracted as many as 40 participants. Wednesday’s time trial championship had a total of eight competitors.

VeloNorth’s races are usually held every second Wednesday to avoid conflicting with other weekly athletic events in Whitehorse this time of year.

These weekly events include the Tuesday night fun run and the Thursday night trail run.

The club puts on about 20 events each year and they take place in various locations. Some of the events include road races, while others are time trials.

This is the fifth year in a row the club has been putting on events in the Yukon. The majority of the races are held in Whitehorse. VeloNorth’s race season typically begins in the last week of April and the club’s final event will be on Sept. 1.

There are three categories of competition for both male and female riders at VeloNorth cycling events. The first is expert and usually includes the cyclists who has been riding for a number of years and training for more than 10 hours a week. Expert riders also normally have plenty of experience taking part in competitions throughout the cycling season.

Competitors in the sport category are usually not in their first year, but are still getting comfortable riding in a group.

The final category is novice, which is usually made up of first year riders, who don’t have much experience taking part in a cycling competition.

Instead of prizes at VeloNorth’s Wednesday races, points are awarded in order of an individuals final position. The point breakdown included 10 points for a first place of each category, seven points for second place finish and third place earned five points. Every competing cyclist earns at least one point at VeloNorth event.

Points are added up at the end of the season and a trophy is given out to the winners.

Wednesday’s time trial featured an out and back course, which started across the road from the Takhini Gas Bar. Racers went down the highway for 10-km, before turning around and coming back to the starting point, which was located on the opposite side of the road.It was an open course, so riders had to stay as far right as possible to avoid traffic.

The course was also relatively flat with the exception of one hill at around the the 2.5-km mark. Racers started at 30 second intervals of each other at the competition.

The North Klondike course is a popular edition in the VeloNorth series because the paved road makes for easy riding condition as well as the less condensed traffic than what riders would experience racing on the Alaska Highway. Another popular course is the Carcross Cutoff, which works its way towards the Yukon River Bridge and then back.

Berryman competed in the Sport Men’s category, which included three other cyclists. He said he wasn’t planning on taking part in the Time Trial Championships because of the rain, but was pleasantly surprised when it cleared up in time for the race.

Berryman is one of the regulars in the VeloNorth race series and continued his impressive string of finishes, which started at the end of June with the Haines race. This is his third year racing in the VeloNorth series.

He said he always enjoys racing the North Klondike Highway course.

“It’s a fairly fast course, but it really depends on the winds out here,” Berryman said. “If you get a strong headwind it can be a really hard course. It just keeps it interesting when you can go on different courses and so we are lucky around here because there are quite a few different courses that we do.”

Other results in the Men’s Sport category included Bob Bowerman, who came in second with a time of 31:17. It was a thrilling finish between the two other competitors in the category, which ended up with Tom

Wojcik just beating out Anthony Delarenzo by less than 20 seconds. 

Wojcik’s time was 34:22, while Delarenzo came in at 34:43.

This was Delarenzo’s first time competing in a VeloNorth road race. He wanted to take part in the race so badly that he cycled all the way from Riverdale.

Delarenzo, who is an avid mountain biker, said the race was recommended to him by others, who compete in it.

“I used to road race when I was 16 or 17, so that was like 15 years ago and I just thought I would come out and relive it a little bit,” he said. “It was fun, time trials are hard, that is what I remember.”

He said the course was challenging.

“It’s tough if you are riding hard,” Delarenzo said. “That is the whole point of it, you want to push yourself, so I was definitely suffering.”

Delarenzo said he didn’t have any expectations competing for the first time.

“I just wanted to come out and hopefully ride as hard as I could, that was about it,” Delarenzo. “It was good. I had a really good time.”

Renee Wairau finished with the top time in the women’s sport class, finishing the race at 34:42, while Duchane Richard wasn’t far off, coming in at 36:17.

Kelsey Kabanak finished in the top spot in the women’s expert category with her time of 35:02. Kaitlyn MacDonald finished in a not too distant second at 38:58.