The Duffey Lake Road: Defeated once again
Local riders tackle notorious climb
Pemberton, BC – A group of dedicated, hard-core, lycra-clad weekend warriors gathered at the base of the relentless climb to take on the challenge of Defeating the Duffey on a sunny, mosquito-y Sunday morning. This year’s race, the third annual, saw the biggest turnout ever for Pemberton’s premiere uphill event, attracting 15 riders from as far away as North Vancouver.
Per the regulations governing the event, riders surrendered all timing devices prior to the start and submitted their guesses to the timing officials. Said Anja Taylor, assistant timer and official mosquito repellant sprayer, “5-6-4-fwee-2-1-GO!” Although race rules call for the time-trial start to allow for one minute intervals between riders, swarms of mosquitos forced organizers to bump the intervals up to 30s to avoid too much blood loss, which would effectively negate all blood-doping advantages.
The pack charged hard up the hill, with early leader and slow-time predictor Kevin Glavas leading the way. The peloton soon followed, with several attacks brought on by the hard-charging Sarah Olner and the hard-gasping David Higgins. Eventual winner Vincent Marcotte picked his way through the field, whistling.
The caravan, sponsored by Volvo, safely carried paparazzi and a frenzied fan to the finish line to greet the exhausted racers. Once at the finish, racers were thrown a curve ball with a new finish line/rock this year, adding 15 feet to the race and throwing off many a prediction. A stiff breeze picked up at the finish, and racers wasted little time trash talking one another before enjoying a very rapid descent.
At the awards banquet, the podium ceremony was derailed by the organizers very poor math skills but the event was salvaged by an eagle-eared Higgins. Winner Paul Nicholas said, “thank god for this victory. My ever-expanding brood depends on me to bring home the bacon, and this bag of cherries and bag of Pemberton Coffee makes all those early mornings so worth it”. He teared up as he hugged and kissed his young family and waved to his adoring fan. Organizers would like to thank all those who attended and list all the winners, losers and times but the results sheet went missing.
The race committee looks forward to hosting next year’s event and to not being in charge of timing.
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