The Queen’s mountain biking team finished off a stellar season at their final race of the season at Boler Mountain in London on Sunday.
The race featured teams from 15 different schools from across Ontario, and was staged on a highly technical and hilly course, said co-coach and rider Greg Edgar. The men rode three laps of the 10-kilometre course, while the women rode two laps.
Queen’s dominated the men’s A-class race, sweeping the podium. Edgar finished first, followed closely by Andrew Robinson and Wai-Ben Wong in second and third place respectively.
The strong showing gave Edgar first place in the overall Ontario standings for the season, while Robinson locked up second place. John Braunstein broke his chain and was forced to abandon the race, but still finished third overall in the Ontario standings due to impressive performances earlier in the season.
Other Queen’s riders also ed impressive performances. Tim Philpott, who made the transition from the B race to the A race this year, finished in a career-best 11th place. Rookie Darryl McGrath finished 14th, while Andrew Severs placed 23rd.
The only women’s rider in the A category was Colleen Hammond, who battled back to finish fifth despite breaking her chain and having to fix it mid-race. She earned second place in the overall standings in the process.
Queen’s was also the team to beat in the B races. First-year team member James Northwood powered his way to third place, which propelled him to first in the overall season standings. Andrew Hall came in seventh, and Ryan Lutz recovered from a wrong turn to grab the eighth spot. Cam Robertson finished in 21st place, Ryan Mahaffey in 26th and Oleska Rewa in 27th.
In the women’s B race, first-year student Madalyn Armstrong slipped past a U of T rider on the final sprint to claim second place in the race and third in the overall standings. Rebecca Gerlach and Alicia Cooper placed fourth and 14th respectively, and Gerlach earned second place for the season.
All the strong finishes combined to give Queen’s the overall team title for the season, an honour they held two years ago, but lost last year to U of T by a narrow margin. Co-coaches Edgar, Robinson and Robertson said they want to congratulate the team on all their hard work for the season.
“It was awesome to the max to work with so many talented people,” Robinson said.
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