With Elly Hoskin moving up to—and winning—the ladies' elite race, a new champ was to be found in the U21 Canadian Open Enduro. That woman turned out to be Hannah Gillcrist, who navigated five difficult stages quicker than any of her rivals (42:15.30). Echo Slobodzian pulled into second (44:08.20) and Charlotte Gadbois Schuett wound up third (44:24.40).
Last year's U21 male victor Nicolas Brochet did it again (35:10.50) ahead of Zachary Rebitt (35:14.70) and Loïck Hudon (35:44.40) in that order.
Gillcrist's title hopes almost faded with an early wipeout, but she quickly composed herself.
"It was Stage One, like halfway down, I just got lost in the chunder and came off the bike," she remembered. "It's tough in the stage to put the crash behind you, but…out of sight, out of mind, keep going forward. Can't let it affect you too much. I think there's still places that I had left to push, but overall, I kept a clean day. There's a few crashes, but I'm happy with how I rode."
Brochet wrote on social media: "P1, baby. Thanks to everyone making it possible, [Commencal SL], les fermes Serbi, [Mathieu Lescadre]."
Having experienced the Canadian Open Enduro for three years now, Gillcrist relishes Stage Three despite—or perhaps because of—its raw length. She believes that organizers shortened it in comparison to previous years, but still enjoyed visiting memory lane.
"I love competition. I think it keeps you motivated to get better," Gillcrist said. "In the end, it's you riding against yourself out there. Crankworx is one of my favourite times of the year ever. All the energy here is just so good, and I always love being a part of this bike community."
Other division winners included Harper Nelmes (U17 boys), Liam Jackson (senior men), Marie-Christine Lauzon (senior women), Shane Gayton (masters men), and Mandy Rousseau (masters women).
The Adaptive Mountain Bike (aMTB) Flow DH also happened on Sunday, with championship honours going to Amanda Timm (women, all bikes), Rob Williams (men, non-battery bikes), Alex Cairns (men, e-assist bikes), Richie Grimes (U19, all bikes) and Sam Danniels (men, e-bikes). Brand new for 2025 is a quadriplegic division, featuring Aven Elsberg.
Click here for more Canadian Open Enduro results and here for additional Crankworx Whistler details.
