Over 170 local riders conquered the North Shore Credit Union Test of Metal on Saturday (June 14), many earning personal bests and reaching the podiums at the top of their categories.Scott Woolley went into the race hoping to finish in less than three hours. He not only placed first in the Male 45-49 category with a time of 2:56:19 but also finished 22nd overall in his fifth Test of Metal.Although Woolley enjoys the Test's more technical sections, he also felt really comfortable on the climbs."Everything was pretty smooth for me, I can't say that I had any problems," he said."I felt pretty good climbing, I held my own which I was pretty happy about. I think it was partly the weather - it wasn't too hot, it wasn't cold and it didn't zap your energy but I was with a pretty fast group up there. Then I had a really fast guy going down the [Ring Creek] Rip and it almost killed me."Despite his accomplishment, Woolley plays down earning the best local time by pointing to local favourite Dwayne Kress's mechanical problems, which prevented him from finishing, and 14-year-old Mo Lawrence's stellar second-best Squamish time of 3:05:34, which earned him third place in the Male 19 & Under category."He's going to be the guy who's taking on the reigns of Neal Kindree," said Woolley of the Don Ross Secondary student. "I'm sure next year he'll be way ahead of me."Lawrence entered the finish area with a huge grin but couldn't stop either pedaling or walking for at least 20 minutes for fear his leg muscles seized up."If I stop moving I'm not going to be able to start up again," said Lawrence while pacing around the Brennan Park Campground fields. "I'm super stoked for that time. I really didn't think I was going to do that well." And he may not have if it wasn't for the Powerhouse Plunge feed station, where a volunteer gave him a big cup of iced tea to fight off intense cramping."I really thought the race was over there but then this guy said 'you've got to drink that all right now or you're not going to be able to finish.'"Besides seeing his time at the finish line, which improved by 35 minutes from last year, Lawrence's favourite part of the race was blasting down the spectator-friendly Rollercoaster with Team Squamish mate Phil Cairns."We rode down Rob's and Cliff's [Corners] together and then there was no one around us. We stopped, took a quick breather at the start of Rollercoaster and ripped down."Meanwhile on the women's side, Stacey Spencer recorded the best local time with a 3:29:45 finish - seventh in the Elite Women's category. Julie Tennock raced to the second best local female result with a time of 4:06:59. Fourteen-year-old Lauren Rosser and 16-year-old Eden Imbeau reached the podium in the Female 19 & Under category placing second and third respectively. Rosser chopped over an hour off last year's first attempt at the Test, beating her 5:18:26 time with an impressive 4:13:52 to earn her the third best local female result.Rosser was given a confidence boost by her mom Sherry, who was strategically positioned on a section infamous for draining high hopes. "I felt good going into the race and I got to Nine Mile [Hill] and my mom was there halfway up and she was like 'you're under two [hours], you're under two' and I was like 'oh, yes!'"
