They faced rain, flooding and an event date postponement, but the OneUp Downhill SORCA Cinco was a huge success.
Over 80 riders came out on Oct. 27 to take part in Squamish’s first downhill race in 12 years.
Originally slated for Oct. 20, the event was postponed by a week due to the torrential weather across B.C.
“We had to postpone it because there was a severe weather warning and an atmospheric river … on the weekend that we originally planned,” OneUp marketing director Quinn Lanzon told The Squamish Chief.
“So we postponed it by a week, which probably cost us a dozen people.”
Despite this, the event turned out to be a great success, with the weather choosing to play nice for the majority of the day.
“The weather turned out way better than the forecast [which] was for 50 mm of rain during the day,” Lanzon said.
“But we got really lucky, the day ended up being really good. I think we had 94 people sign up, and around 80 showed up and put down a race time.”
The event, which also acted as a fundraiser for Squamish Off Road Cycling Association, raised around $3,700 for the volunteer-run non-profit trail association.
“For a first-year event, we were really happy,” Lanzon said.
Race results
Competing in the open men’s category, professional rider Jackson Goldstone brought home the fastest time of the day at 3:31.20.
The winner of the open female category was Emily Wright, with a time of 4:43.63.
Rob Davis claimed victory in the masters male category finishing in four minutes and six seconds, while Mini Rey took out the masters female group with a time of 7:03.45.
The 13-16 age group female winner was Ruby Wells, who zoomed down in
4:32.27, and the 13-18 male winner was Ryder Wilson, who secured a time of 3:50.07.
Community support
Lanzon said the biggest surprise of the day was the number of community spectators who showed up to watch and support the event.
“Everyone just had so much fun and the number of spectators who came out was astonishing, and we were not ready for it,” he said.
“There were easily 100 spectators that came up. There were more people track-side than at many world cup races. [For the after party] I think I had 170 burgers, and that was mostly just for racers and volunteers, and we had like 250 beers, and everything just disappeared.”
The full list of results from the event can be seen here.
