Stuckylife Semiprestige 2015 – Mary’s Farm
Words: Parker Bloom & Terry McKall
Pictures: Geoff Robson (Insta: @r_o_b_s_o_n )
We had a race, it was very fun. Then someone jumped his bike into a pond of horse shit. We hope he’s ok.
While the Superprestige celebrates the best of the best of cyclocross – averaged over a seasons worth of racing – the Stuckylife Semiprestige is designed to celebrate everyone who is still excited to show up and race in the PNW in December.
It wasn’t warm. There were no series points on the line. There was some great prizing from Driftwood Brewery and mechanical support from Velofix – but it wasn’t exactly Neutral Support and cash prizing. But documenting it all, from behind his camera lens, was Geoff Robson, making sure that the masses’ elated Semiprestige experience made it onto the ‘net.
A week of ruthless storms had hammered Victoria preceding the Semiprestige, offering 60km/h winds and many mms of rainfall . With another morning of drizzle and damp, many woke up Sunday morning feeling trepidatious about making the trip out to the race venue on Finlayson Arm Road.
Those who did discovered a serendipitous clear patch over Mary’s Farm – possibly the work of the unicorn spotted during course clean up. There was also rain, but way less than in the city, so we’re going to pretend it didn’t happen.
The rolling property at Mary’s Farm is probably nice for horses, but it’s a really, really great place for a cross race. Without a single stretch of level ground, the cambered course made excellent use of the terrain, sending racers up and down muddy banks, twisting around rolling mounds, and careening through fast corners. Add in a couple unique, equestrian related barriers and one giant pond mid-course, and racers were always entertained and on their toes as they worked their way around the track..
A race. B race. Or just a bunch of racers having an awesome time at a wildly picturesque venue perched in the clouds above Victoria. It’s with great pleasure that we award the Semiprestige as the best island race in December this year!
All races kicked off with a more or less organized running start. Mostly less organized.
UCI Legal course flagging, and a thin but slick layer of greasy mud
Raph and Parker were locked in a close battle all race.
Shoe-sock combo. Somewhere The Athletic’s instagram account shuddered with the sound of a thousand ‘likes’ suddenly silenced. We’re still not sure which Renny is more disapproving of: footwear or line choice
Twisting off-cambers, with the run-up in the background
See! Racing in December is fun!
The log section at a more peaceful moment, before the hecklers and handups arrived in full force
Brrrrraaaaaaaad Head
bohdi!!!!!
Parker, in a moment of separation from Raph, skirting the pond
Option B
How I will remember this event: Calm water and a racer soaring high on the discovery of the perfect, unseen line…
There was no graceful way over the tire barrier. Matt: on the rivet, over the rubber.
Shorts and no gloves. It’s definitely December. Or just Nick riding in the winter.
We were very happy Brad made it back from a season long injury to race Sunday!
Jamie Cameron offset his MTB advantage with tire pressure in the low 60s.
Hallllllllldoooooorrrr! Upholding viking heritage, looking at ease crossing open bodies of water
Gradient on a gradient. Home field advantage wherever he goes uphill ….
Peter! B race champ, and winner of the ‘most useful CX volunteer’ award this season.
Rachel crossing the line as most aero-cx
Hey, if you had to come up with a caption for this what would it be? I know I would.
“OK, OK, So who do you think won?”
“Who cares, I swear I saw a goddamn (therapeutic) unicorn on the course!”
There is an incredible amount of silent effort and volunteer hours standing on this podium. Bonus points for next year if you showed up to any cx event in Victoria early enough to see who on this podium had been there for hours already
Someone remind me what’s happening here, or we will vote on a new ‘official’ version: A) Meat is serenading either a coyly appreciative Matt, with Joel’s approval, or B) Meat is singing the Oscar Meyer Wiener song while Joel reminisces about elementary school physics in America (‘Snack-tacular’) and more-recently-ex-patriated Matt hides tears over the bittersweet irony of Meat reminding him of the vacant “processed meat” quadrant of his nutritional pyramid. Local, artisinal, ethical … yet still nothing compared to that sweet, seductive voice amplified through that red beard
So, there were more people. But the rain, and maybe the horse poo meant a slightly under-represented Women’s podium. Rachel and Kristen decided to share the top step, with Emily being so speedy, that she was already in a warm car and headed home.
below: Very serious racing: Raph, Paker, Kupiak, Hal, and Courtney swept the other podium. And by swept, we mean they filled all the spots on the podium, because there’s a bunch of different teams up there. We’re incredibly proud of the sartorial diversity on this podium, with Halldor’s sweater balancing Chris’ skinsuit/ jeans combo and nicely offsetting Raph’s ‘cool winnings’ look.
