The most successful sports make the best use of their natural advantages. That has always been the case for the Island鈥檚 many mountain biking trails, which have produced several riders for the 2021 UCI world mountain bike world championships beginning today and running to Sunday in Val di Sole, Italy.
Emily Johnston of Comox is on the Canadian women鈥檚 cross-country team, Carter Woods of Cumberland on the men鈥檚 cross-country team, Emmy Lan and Cole Stinson of Comox on the junior women鈥檚 and men鈥檚 颅downhill squads and Mark 颅Wallace of Duncan on the elite men鈥檚 downhill team.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 three Tokyo 颅Olympians will contest the elite cross-country races 鈥� Bear Mountain-based Haley Smith and Peter Disera and veteran rider Catharine Pendrel, who began her cycling career in 颅Victoria.
鈥淲e have a strong and 颅ambitious team going to worlds this year,鈥� said Dan Proulx, head coach of the Bear 颅Mountain-based Canadian national 颅mountain biking team.
鈥淭here are several riders on the verge of significant breakthroughs at the international level, particularly in the U-23 category, and we鈥檙e excited to see what they can do in Italy.鈥�
Chief among them are Islanders Woods and Johnston. The Norco Factory pro Woods won two consecutive World Cup circuit U-23 men鈥檚 events in May. Woods and Johnston are among four Island riders selected among 47 athletes to the Cycling sa国际传媒 NextGen development team for the Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, joining track cyclists Erin Attwell and Sarah Van Dam of Victoria.
Woods and Johnston come from a strong mountain-biking tradition in the Comox Valley. While Mount Washington has produced several recent Winter Olympics, headlined by Pyeongchang 2018 gold-medallist half-pipe skier Cassie Sharpe of Comox, it has an even longer history of rubber-wheeled success in summer. Woods and Johnston are continuing a tradition blazed by the likes of Geoff Kabush, the UVic mechanical engineering graduate from Courtenay who had two top-10 finishes among his three Olympic appearances at Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and London 2012, and Kiara Bisaro of Comox, 2004 Athens 颅Olympian and bronze medallist at the 2006 Melbourne 颅Commonwealth Games.
With two-time world champion and Rio 2016 bronze-medallist Pendrel, a UVic graduate who learned to ride on the Hartland trails, now a new mom and likely having raced her final of four Olympics last month in Tokyo, the focus turns to the future.
鈥淧ost-Olympics, development always becomes our primary focus,鈥� said Proulx.
鈥淲e鈥檙e taking a big team filled with many new and emerging young riders and we want them to compete fiercely, learn everything they can and come away with the best experience possible.鈥�
