Ontario XC Marathon Championships

It was a very sunny and hot day when I was down at Kingston for the Ontario Marathon Championships on September 3. It was the 4th race of the Ontario XC Marathon series and I was feeling really good for this event. I was currently leading the XC Marathon Series so I needed to have a good race in order to remain the leader of the series. At the event I had some great competition, my AWI team mate Adam Hill was doing the full marathon as well. He races in the 35 and over division and is leading the the series as well. The race start was at 11:00 and I was on the front row with Adam and other series leaders. The race went off and I lead it out for the first km and then my team mate Adam Hill took the front and led us through the first few single tracks. The first half lap was a very high pace but everything settled down in the second half of the first lap. At about the half way point of the race I was making a fast turn and my jersey caught a sharp point on a pine tree and the entire shoulder ripped out, at least I didn't get scraped up to bad.  I was have a great performance until I noticed I was getting a rear flat tire. I pinched my rear and air was slowly leaking out. I had about 7km left of the race  so I stop and used half a Co2, it made it hard enough to ride on. I didn't make it to far when I had to hit is with a Co2 again, it was loosing more air then I thought. I made it to the last aid station which was 6km away from the finish and I got them to pump up my tire while I was there. My Co2 canister got stuck in my inflator so I couldn't put a new one in. I did everything I could while I was at the aid station to get it unstuck but it was in there tight. So while I was at the aid station I got past and now I was in third place leaving. Since I couldn't get my Co2 unstuck I didn't have anyway of pumping up my tire for the last 6km, I figured I would just ride it until it was flat then run the rest. Just after the aid station I caught a competitor Aiden Webster which I am very good friends with and we rode for about 3 km together until my tire started to go flat again. Aiden was very generous and gave me his Co2 inflator when I stopped, he kept on going and I pumped my tire up and then pushed it hard to catch back up to him. I had to pump my tire up one more time before I came to the finish, I was so close to catching Aiden that I saw him cross the line when I was coming around the last corner to the finish. The last 3km was probably the best part since I was pushing everything trying to catch Aiden and I knew he was doing the same trying to stay ahead of me. Other then having issues with my rear tire I had a great race with some friends and the course was amazing. I placed 3rd in the under 35 men division and the best part is that I retained my XC Marathon Series Leader Jersey. At the podium there is a pool in front of it so people can jump in which is very cool, I wasn't planning on jumping in since I had my shoes on but the other two were and they kinda pulled me in. So I ended up getting soaking wet, at least I can dry lol. Even though I ripped my jersey during the race it wasn't so bad since I got another one for winning the series. I now have a good memory for the future. I have to say the XC Marathon Series is my favourite race series in Ontario and I hope the event organizer Dan Marshall keeps getting more riders and racers out at his events. Dan always puts on great events and I encourage everyone to get out and try one. I will definitely be back defending my XC Marathon Series title in 2017.

On the podium in 3rd place