2014 is the seventh year for the Giro di Burnaby. The 1.3Km race course in the heart of North Burnaby (better known as ‘The Heights’) covers three blocks of Hastings Street and one block of Gilmore, Albert, and MacDonald with a hairpin turn on Hastings at Madison. The race is well sponsored with a number of high-profile local and provincial sponsors, and the community openly supports the race.
This race is included in the BC Superweek race series that occurs all over the Lower Mainland, and includes a prize purse of over $15,000. This is a big draw for the racers entering the Giro di Burnaby.
At the Giro di Burnaby finish, Luke Keogh finishes ahead of teammate Ken Hanson. On the Podium, they’re joined by Hilton Clarke (L). Photo by Chris Relke courtesy of BC Superweek.
Keep your eyes peeled over the next few days, my pithy friends — there are oodles of specimens of ultrafit humanity zipping around the Greater Vancouver region for BC Superweek. Folks unfamiliar with the sport just curse the temporary road closures. Those of us who know better are on the lookout for windswept hair, thighs of steel and aerodynamically ripped abs.
Rejoice, rubberneckers, and gawk away! It doesn’t even matter which way your preferences lean; both the men and women in this sport are cut from the cloth of the gods, and dress in skin-tight superhero tights.
Canadian National Champion Leah Kirchmann leans into a corner during the criterium 2014 Tour de Delta. Photo by Greg Descantes for BC Superweek.
The Tour de Delta was an especially big weekend for Winnipeg-born Leah Kirchmann, as she took first place in the first BC road race sanctioned by UCI, the Union Cycliste Inter-nationale.
Kirchmann (of Team Optum) is no stranger to winner’s circles, as she is the first rider to ever simultaneously hold Canadian national time trial, road race and criterium titles. The 24-year-old favourite delivered in the 40-km criterium on Saturday and the 96-km road race the following morning, topping the 59-rider field on both days. She drove a group sprint for an exciting finish, stopping the clock at two hours, 25 minutes and 8.7 seconds.
On the men’s side, Ryan Anderson of North Vancouver (also of Team Optum) came in second behind American teammate Jesse Anthony. Anderson averaged43.66 klicks per hour over the151.19-km men’s course, earning him a seven-second cushion for a winning time of 3:27:46.3.
Not sure what 43.66 km/h looks like? Take the Expo Line from Waterfront Station to King George and back. Four times.Team Optum just rode that same distance, and beat that SkyTrain to the finish.
The peloton, featuring the orange-helmeted women’s winner Leah Kirchmann (centre), negotiates a bend in the road during Sunday’s Tour de Delta. Photo by Greg Descantes for BC Superweek.
Monday is a day off for BC Superweek, which comprises nine races over ten days across the Lower Mainland between July 4–13. Next up is the UBC Grand Prix on Tuesday night, July 8.
The ever-popular Gastown Grand Prix goes July 9, followed by the Giro di Burnaby on July 10. The finale, the Tour de White Rock, is a three-day event taking place Friday, Saturday and Sunday of next week.
2013 has been a year of expansion for Pucked in the Head, with multiple correspondents and guest bloggers posting here for the first time and coverage moving past our hockey-only beginnings to include soccer, football, baseball, and tennis. Well make room on the bench, folks, because we’ve got one more writer — Ross Arbo — bringing us one more athletic endeavour just perfect for the awesome summer weather that has finally deigned to visit Vancouver: competitive cycling.
A Crash Course on Local Cycling by Ross Arbo
July should really be renamed ‘Bike-tober’ because around the world, it really is the best month for cycling. That goes double for competitive cycling. The month named for Julius Caesar sees France host ‘le Grand Tour’ (#TdF), of course, which is a premier event even after Lance Armstrong’s travails. Locally, July brings BC Superweek to the Lower Mainland. You may not have heard the name BC Superweek, but I’m willing to bet most locals have heard of the Gastown Grand Prix, the Giro di Burnaby or the Tour de Whiterock. If you live in the Vancouver area, you or someone you know grew up near one of these events. And there’s no shortage of history — the Gastown event alone has been running since 1975.
The peloton banks 180° from Water Street onto West Cordova during the 2012 Gastown Grand Prix, won by Ken Hansen. Photo courtesy of Greg Descantes, BC Superweek.
The latest incarnation of BC Superweek began in 2002 when the Gastown Grand Prix returned to Vancouver and scheduled itself on the Wednesday between the two weekends occupied by the Tour de Delta and Tour de White Rock. The oldest events are the Gastown Grand Prix (started in 1973) and the Tour de White Rock (1979). The other three races that make up BC Superweek are the Giro di Burnaby, Tour de Delta and the UBC Grand Prix.
Most of the races in BC Superweek are Criteriums (or Crits) where racers complete multiple laps around short courses (less than 2km). What does that mean for spectators? Crits are frantic, fast, and finished in less than an hour.
