At this pace, it won't be long before mountain bike racing is a sanctioned official OFSAA sport.
With SDSSAA races running for just the second year, cyclists numbered right in around the 100 athlete mark as organizer Stephane Jacques coordinated a small series of events, including an end of September meet at the Walden Cross-Country Trails in Naughton.
While we fully expected to see the members of the WMBC (Walden Mountain Bike Club) Wolfpak race team on hand, the overwhelming majority of these riders are not nearly as far along when it comes to actual competitions beyond the northern high-school scene.
Sonya Thompson of Lo-Ellen, who beat out schoolmates Finley Cuza and Kalyani Nair to capture the senior girls division, is more than a touch indicative of so many of the bikers who were enjoying an abnormally warm month of September.
"My dad was always super into this (mountain biking), so it was always a fun family activity," said Thompson. "This is my first year of racing competitively."
Giving at least some thought to continuing with the sport at a post-secondary level, the 17 year-old grade 12 student has quickly realized where her training efforts need to be focused over the course of the upcoming off-season.
"You need to be in shape, your cardio really needs to be up," Thompson suggested. "That's one thing I noticed. People don't realize just how hard it really is."
Though she would consider herself more of a casual mountain biker until just recently, the fact that Thompson spends much of the summer out on these very trails means that she has added to her cycling toolbox of skills, just by virtue of the hours spent on the course.
"For things like cornering and hills, just having the experience, it allows you to do it faster," she said. "When you get those skills down pat, you can make up time there."
Though male riders badly outnumbered the young women on this day, Thompson was thankful that in her division at least, there was a race to be had.
"I liked that I had Finley right on my tail," she said. "It really pushed me to go. I liked that we were neck and neck and could just kind of push one another."
In the closest race of the day, Ethan Mourre (Lo-Ellen) edged Alexandre Mailloux (ESMC) by just a second in the senior boys bracket as the latter continues to work his way up the ranks within the local mountain bike riding community.
"I started mountain biking when I was in seventh grade, just going out for rides with my dad," noted Mailloux, currently in grade 11 at Macdonald-Cartier. "A year later, I joined the Wolfpak, more just for fun."
"In ninth grade, I started doing more races down south then last year, I started taking it more seriously and tried to get good results in higher categories. I am training a lot."
Beyond that, he is setting himself up for success, staying on top of those items that are critical to elite performances. "I'm doing the little things: sleeping, diet, stretching and recovery; all of those things," said Mailloux.
Racing with the Wolfpak, Mailloux has now garnered some knowledge of the differing technical aspects of the various courses in the province, with Walden presenting its own unique series of quirks and challenges.
"It's a more rocky course than the ones down south," said Mailloux. "You need to make better line choices - and you need more power to go over the rocks faster. You need to have good balance on your bike so that the suspension can absorb the shock."
Following are the race winners in the girls divisions and the top five with the boys:
Senior Girls - Sonya Thompson (LOE)Senior Boys
1st - Ethan Mourre (LOE)
2nd - Alexandre Mailloux (ESMC)
3rd - Owen Claridge (LOE)
4th - Graydon Bain (LAS)
5th - Bradley Slaght (MSS)
Junior Girls - Amanda Syncox (LOE)
Junior Boys
1st - Dane Gibeault (LOE)
2nd - Raphael Belzile (ESMC)
3rd - Addison Denomme (HOR)
4th - Kayden Lynch (ESMC)
5th - Caiden Langlois (LOE)
Novice Girls - Alexandra Lawrence (STB)
Novice Boys
1st - Charlie Caissie (BAC)
2nd - Chesley Godwin (LOE)
3rd - Isaac Quakenbush (MSS)
4th - Mason Russel (BAC)
5th - Jonah Balfe (MSS)