sa国际传媒鈥檚 mountain-biking bookends, in terms of career arc, will be racing Saturday in the annual UCI Bear Mountain sa国际传媒 Cup.
Olympic qualifying has begun and riders will be looking to pick up points for Tokyo 2020.
Catharine Pendrel, who would be 39 in Tokyo, could be on beam to ride in her fourth Olympic Games.
鈥淚 take it year by year,鈥� said the two-time UCI women鈥檚 world champion and 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited about this year and performing well to gain the points to send the maximum three Canadian women鈥檚 racers to Tokyo next year.鈥�
Observers are amazed by Pendrel鈥檚 longevity in the sport, especially after a 2018 season in which she broke her arm in a fall.
鈥淐atharine definitely still has the physical capacity, and the passion is still there,鈥� said Canadian national team head coach Dan Proulx of Victoria.
鈥淐ombine those two things and she has a great shot at going to another Olympics.鈥�
She could be joined in Tokyo by 25-year-old rising Canadian performer Haley Smith, who won her first multi-sport Games international medal with bronze in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
Pendrel won gold medals in the 2015 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and 2007 Rio Pan American Games and knows how important it is to have success in the lower-level Games before going for the big prize at the Olympics.
鈥淟ast year was a breakthrough for me and gave me belief in myself,鈥� said Smith, an Ontarian, who trains at the Canadian national mountain biking centre on Bear Mountain.
鈥淚 went to the start line [in Gold Coast] feeling I didn鈥檛 belong but came away with a sense of confidence and belonging.鈥�
The jitters of being in her first multi-sport international Games, with athletes from so many different sports, soon evaporated. Smith, who suffered from anorexia as a teen, also overcame the initial hesitation of eating in a communal setting.
鈥淸Smith] has such amazing potential,鈥� said New Brunswick-native Pendrel, a former Island triathlete, who began her cycling career on the Hartland trails when she was a University of Victoria student.
Success within a program has a tendency to feed off itself.
鈥淚 have learned so much from watching Catharine,鈥� said Smith.
The sa国际传媒 Cup elite men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 races are part of the overall Bear Mountain Bike Festival, with action Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The more than 500 participants will carry on into Sunday racing, which includes the free Kids Bike Day.
> More details online: victoriabikerace.com/bear-mountain
