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Singletrack 6 – Stage 2 – Fernie, BC

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Looney and Weissenbacher Take Stage 2 with Looney Taking Over GC Lead

Written by: Marlee Dixon

Stage 2 of Singletrack 6 takes place at Fernie Alpine Resort and Mount Fernie Provincial Park. It’s a very different racecourse than stage 1 and includes more sustained climbing and descending. At 8am all riders were off, racing together up a mountain access road. The extended uphill spread racers out before descending into the forest on Snakebite; a dark, forested, fun and fast downhill trail.

location: Fernie, B.C., Canada

location: Fernie, B.C., Canada

Next racers head up the rail trail and then descend the multi-directional, fast Lazy Lizard trail. Then its on to the biggest climb; Project 9 access trail, that includes several steep grunts to really max out the heart rate.

The timed descent of the day drops down the Project 9 trail which is sure to have left racers grinning as they fly down through the trees, over drops and through berms on an epic descent. Back on Lazy Lizard, racers cruise downhill again and connect via a new trail to climb up Stove trail. From there it’s another fun descent on Dem Bones before racers head back up the resort in one final long climb.

location: Fernie, B.C., Canada

location: Fernie, B.C., Canada

The course finishes descending on the resort; first on a rooty, semi-technical trail with some slick bridges then heading on a rip-roaring flowy berm trail to the finish. Today’s course included a lot of steep uphill and downhill sections in the 21 mile course with 5000′ of elevation gain. It was a good test of rider’s fitness with sustained climbs, as well as bike handling skills, with lots of fast descents including roots, bridges, drops and technical aspects.

Rotem Ishay/3rd Place Stage 2/1st Place Overall / Singletrack 6 Open Solo Men

Rotem Ishay/3rd Place Stage 2/1st Place Overall / Singletrack 6 Open Solo Men

For both the pro men and women there were new stage winners today. For the men, Rotem Ishay (Jamis Bikes) flatted and ended up in 3rd (2:00:51) only seconds behind teammates Manuel Weissenbacher (Craft-Rocky Mountain Factory Team) in 1st (2:00:34) and Andreas Hartmann in 2nd (2:00:44). Ishay keeps the overall lead with Weissenbacher in 2nd and Hartmann in 3rd.

For the pro women Sonya Looney (Freakshow/Defeet) charged ahead from the start and maintained her 1st place position for the stage and took over the lead in the GC competition. She won the stage in 2:19:50 followed by Kate Aardal (Ridleys Cycling) in a time of 2:24:29.

Sonya Looney

Sonya Looney

Following the first descent down Snakebite, Aardal moved up from 4th to 2nd and proceeded to steadily break away from 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th position. Jayne Rossworn following closely behind Aardal, moved into 3rd on the rail trail climb and finished in 3rd in a time of 2:27:35. Looney moves up to first in the overall with Aardal in 2nd and Marlee Dixon (Pivot Cycles/DNA Cycling) jumping into 3rd.

Stage 3 of Singletrack 6 moves to Cranbrook for a totally different type of terrain; a smooth, undulating 26 mile course with 3900′ of elevation gain and more frequent smaller climbs and descents. Check out tomorrow’s race report to see if the different style of riding affects the racers standings.

Click Here for full Santa Cruz Stage 2 results from all categories

Click Here for full GC results following Santa Cruz Stage 2

Singletrack 6 MTB Stage Race – Fernie, BC

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Rotem Ishay and Kate Aardal Take the Early Lead at Singletrack 6

Written by: Marlee Dixon

Singletrack 6, a six-day stage race in British Columbia, started today in sunny downtown Fernie.  Known for having one of the biggest and most extensive single track trail networks, Fernie seems to have mountain bike trails everywhere.  It’s a small, friendly mountain town with a fun downtown and the gorgeous Canadian Rockies rising all around. Singletrack 6 includes two stages in Fernie followed by one stage in Cranbrook, one stage in Kimberley and two stages in Golden. The route for Singletrack 6 changes every year and this is the first year it has included Fernie.

Today’s ride rolled out at 8am from the downtown area behind a fire truck. Not long after the neutral start, all 300+ racers were pushing hard to get into position before the start of the first section of trail.

Once the singletrack started it didn’t stop; racers climbed Hyperventilation then descended the timed enduro descent Hyper-extension. Next it was on to other great trails including the new Kush and Kushier followed by the Coal Discovery trail, up Sidewinder, Eric’s trail and down Kids Stuff to the finish.

On and off rain on Friday made for some great conditions on course accompanied by a cool sunny morning made for ideal race conditions.  Only 20 miles of racing, you might think this race would be a breeze, but it’s not. The course is almost completely one-track with a whopping 4900’ of elevation gain. The ascents are challenging with some roots, steep punchy climbs and technical areas. The descents and winding areas are also steep in sections, with roots and technical features. Todays course was a great test of racer’s overall bike handling skills, fitness and strength with the fastest course time averaging ~10 mph.

For the pro men Rotem Ishay (Jamis Bikes) pulled away from the pro field before the first singletrack and rode alone the entire race despite a broken derailleur hanger.  He won the stage in a time of 1:59:38. In 2nd was Mattieu Belanger-Barrette (Pivot Cycles) in a time of 2:04:09 and in 3rd was Andreas Hartmann (Rocky Mountain Factory team).

For the women Kate Aardal (Ridleys Cycle), the 2014 and 2015 Singletrack 6 winner, won the first stage in a time of 2:23:41. She was in the lead from the start and won both the timed descent and the stage.  Right behind her was Sonya Looney (FreakShow/Defeet) in a time of 2:24:18 followed in 3rd by Kim Hurst (Niner NZ) 2:28:20.

Stage 1 of Singletrack 6 was a great introduction to the extensive, fun, and challenging riding that takes you up to stunning mountain vistas, descending through pitch-dark giant forests, on classic trails and cool new singletrack in a beautiful mountain setting.

Check back tomorrow for Stage 2 results, photos and report as racers head over to Fernie Mountain Resort and Mount Fernie Provincial Park for 21 miles of steep ascents and descents.

Click Here for full results from all categories