​Emilly Johnston claims the Jr women's win and the Canada Cup Leader's jersey at round one. Emilly attacked from the gun and held onto a pace no one else was able to match. Emilly will not defend her jersey at round 2, deciding to head to Europe to test herself at the UCI Jr Series in May.

Housemates and teammates Emily Unterberger and Elyse Nieuwold, after going 1,3 at an Island Cup two weeks ago, again found each other to be their main rival at Bear Mountain.  They raced together until a last lap attack by Elyse saw her gain the edge over Emily for 10th and 11th in elite women's field. This duo will line up beside each other again at the Vedder Mountain Classic in Chilliwack as well as rounds 2,3 and 4 of the Canada Cup series in Quebec.

On the men's side Holden Jones discovered that moving up to Elite/U23 combined with a full engineering course load makes racing hurt a bit more than in the jr ranks! Despite limited training hours over the winter and some good leg cramps during the race he was able to finish an impressive 24th. This team has some grit! After scoring a recent 3rd in Elite men at the Sunshine Coaster Holden will line up next at the Canada Cups in Quebec.
​
Image by Jay Wallace

We are pleased to share that all three athletes have been selected to Team Canada for the World Championships in Lenzerheide Switzerland September 4-8th.  Congrats Holden, Emily and Elyse!

To find out more about the event visit the Lenzerheide World Championship  website

​Emily’s silver at nationals was not only a great performance on the day but a great reference for her skill progression from one year to the next.  The course in Canmore is loaded with steep challenging descents which Emily easily conquered despite being bested by the course the previous year. After the race she said her RaceFace dropper seat post had changed her life! Always modest however, a big part of this improvement was definitely the hard work and training she put in over the last year to gain skill and confidence and the tenacity with which she raced.
 
Holden’s season long battle with Carter Woods for top spot in junior men was once again tested at Nationals.  This day belonged to Carter, but Holden raced with focus and form to minimize the gap and secure silver by a large margin. He followed this silver medal winning ride with a gold for team BC in the relay the following day, the fastest junior lap and 3rd fastest lap of the day.
 

Elyse claims silver in the GC after 6 days of back and forth racing against a competitive women's field.

The race began with 3 Epic days in Golden before moving to Revelstoke, Vernon and Silverstar for the final three stages.

Elyse Loved the mtb stage race format and all the amazing new trails she got to experience at race pace!
​Photos by John Gibson 

​The End of June and July saw a lot of racing.  While Emily was out for the Whistler Canada Cup with a compression fracture and slight shoulder dislocation, Elyse and Holden were going strong, claiming silver in both the Elite women's and Junior men's races.

From Whistler, Elyse was off to Europe with more of an adventure than bargained for! Her travel companion and feed/tech support got badly injured on Day 1 and Elyse truly found out the Privateer experience.  In Val di sole, her first European World Cup she finished 53rd and with a quieter week afterwards she was able to climb up to 39th in Andorra, a track notorious for its difficulty being at 1900m.

There is nothing like that first trip to Europe to learn just what World Cup racing entails and how to prepare for it!  

Holden Jones had an impressive start to his season claiming the win in the first round of the Canada Cup and UCI Junior Series.  After a tight three way battle Holden was able to secure first wheel into the final single track and maintain it to the finish.  He followed up this performance with an impressive 4th the the Elite men's short track the next day.

On the women's side Elyse and Emily claimed 11th and 13th in a stacked Elite women's field including Olympic and Commonwealth Games riders. After a strong start and first race in their legs we're excited to see them race next weekend at the US cup opener.

The Pendrel Racing Team is excited to make their debut on home soil at the Canada Cup at Bear Mtn in Victoria, BC on March 31st.  Here the athletes will line up against Canada's Best riders on some of Canada's best trails.  Stay tuned for details!