They did it again.
Squamish resident Geoff Kabush and Czech racer Katerina Nash were the overall winners across all age categories in the men’s and women’s divisions for a second year in a row at the annual BC Bike Race.
Kabush managed to cross the finish line with a cumulative time of 15 hours, 18 minutes and 22 seconds, beating his closest competitor, French rider Francois Bailly-Maitre by six-and-a-half minutes.
Kerry Werner, an American racer, took third after arriving almost 15 minutes after Kabush.
In the overall women’s division, Nash emerged as the gold winner with a time of 18 hours, 10 minutes and five seconds.
American racer Kaysee Armstrong was the next behind, snagging silver with a time of 19 hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds.
Another rider from the U.S., Hannah Finchamp was the bronze winner, passing the finish line at 19 hours, 20 minutes and one second.
Nash and Kabush arrived at victory after traversing seven long, hard routes, which took place over the same number of days.
It started off on Vancouver Island.
The first day was a 41-kilometre trip right by Duncan in the Cowichan Valley that had 1,692 metres of elevation gain.
Next on the menu was a 40-kilometre route in Cumberland with 1,191 metres of elevation gain.
The next respective days brought in similarly challenging routes in Powell River, Earls Cove-Sechelt, Sechelt-Langdale and North Vancouver.
For the grand finale, riders toured through trails in Squamish, racing through 58 kilometres that stretched over 1,681 metres of elevation gain.
Participants were divided into age specific categories, with those under 40 racing in the solo division. Masters was open to those over 40. The Veterans category was available for those over 50.
Team divisions were also available.
All categories ran the same course.
Etienne Haller of France and Hannah Miller of New Zealand won the men’s and women’s Masters division.
Canadian John Verdonk won the men’s Veterans division, while Juliet Plumb of Australia was the winner among the women in that category.
For two-person teams, Jeremy De Beusscher and Alexandre Amato were the pair that won the open men division.
Claire Geiger and Renee Lockey took the win in the women’s open.
Victory in the open mixed division belonged to Justin Rinehart and Jenna Rinehart.
Guy Sutton and Ken Winton won the veterans with a combined age of 100 or more.
Anthony Mayr and Sam Kummrow took the veterans division among those with a combined age of 80 or more.
