Emily Batty, Chris Sheppard grab gold at 2011 Canadian cyclocross championships

TORONTO — Emily Batty (Subaru-Trek) and Chris Sheppard (Rocky Mountain-Shimano) grabbed the gold in the elite women and men’s categories at Saturday’s Canadian national cyclocross championships.

Held under cool but sunny conditions, each lap of the challenging 3.5km valley-side course featured three tough climbs followed by technical descents, a couple of barriers and a pair of sand pits. Overnight frost made for treacherous going in the morning support races, but by mid-day the surface had dried up quite nicely.

Batty bides her time

Mical Dyck (Pro City Racing) took the lead from the gun but was soon passed by Pepper Harlton (Juventus), who pried open a small gap over the field.

Showing maturity and excellent race sense, Batty patiently led the chase. “You’ve got to expect someone to take a flyer right off the start,” she explained. “Pepper was setting an awesome pace but it was still early.”

Upon getting into her stride Batty steadily reeled in Harlton and by the end of lap two the pair had a 15-second lead on Dyck, with the remainder of the field strung out behind.

Early on in the third lap Batty upped the pace a notch, dropping Harlton and riding away to capture her first elite cyclocross title, a discipline that only serves as training for her.

Following her most successful mountain-bike racing season to date Batty took some time off before resuming training.

“My brothers and fiancé built a ’cross course at home so we’ve been bombing around on there and having fun and getting ready for next year. This is fun for us but a good excuse to train and be on the bike this time of year.”

Harlton hung on for second and had nothing but praise for the winner: “I got outridden today. It was a great, great ride by Emily. She was really hitting those hills really well.”

Dyck rode home in third, an achievement in itself considering she had separated her shoulder only a week and a half earlier. A crash while riding her ’cross bike left her unable to ride until Friday.

“Just being off the bike for a week and a half, I felt really flat,” said the Victoria, BC resident.

Sheppard survives onslaught

Perhaps hoping to match his sister, Mark Batty (Spidertech-C10) set the pace in the early going of the elite men’s race. On his wheel was a large group including Aaron Schooler (Team H&R Block-SRI Importing), Tyler Trace (Trek Red Truck), Mike Garrigan (LaPierre Canada), Sheppard, Kevin Noiles (Sportique), Andrew Watson (Norco Factory Team) and Adam Morka (Trek Canada).

A gradual increase in speed saw Trace, Morka and Watson drop back, and nearing the end of the third lap the group was down to five. Sheppard, the defending champion, decided it was time to show himself and attacked the group.

“I was hoping there would be some infighting with them chasing me and that I could sustain that gap,” he said.

Whether it was due to his strategy or his strength, Sheppard’s ploy worked perfectly and he steadily increased his lead to take his second national ’cross win.

“It feels great,” he said proudly. “I really look forward to finishing the last couple of U.S. Gran Prix wearing the maple leaf jersey.”

With Sheppard on his way to victory, the focus shifted to the battle for second. A broken pedal and flat tire ruined Noiles’ day and Garrigan began to fade, leaving Batty and Schooler to settle the remaining podium places.

“I tried a couple of times to go really hard but he was able to match everything I did so I knew it was going to come down to a sprint,” said Batty. The 2007 U23 national ’cross champ made no mistake in the finale, outdistancing Schooler by three bike lengths.

Despite finishing third, Schooler was pleased.

“I did okay,” he said with a laugh. “Chris has stepped it up a lot from last year. He just rode away from the field this year. Mark’s a pretty strong, talented rider. He just stuck with me. It was cat-and-mouse right to the end and he ended up outsprinting me.”

Race notes

• Batty rode her new 2012 carbon fiber Trek Cronus CX with Bontrager D3 wheels, which she claimed weighed 15 pounds, 2 ounces. “That made a huge difference,” she said, “with these climbs especially.”

• A trip to the world championships is probably not in the cards for Sheppard: “I would love to do the world’s but it will be interesting to see if I can fit it in with family.”

Quick results
Men

• 1. Chris Sheppard, 1:01:52
• 2. Mark Batty, 1:02:13
• 3. Aaron Schooler, 1:02:14
• 4. Derrick St John, 1:02:34
• 5. Andrew Watson, 1:02:47

Women

• 1. Emily Batty, 40:59
• 2. Pepper Harlton, 41:32
• 3. Mical Dyck, 42:14
• 4. Évelyne Blouin, 42:57
• 5. Jean Ann Berkenpas, 43:17

Complete results

FILED UNDER: Cyclocross / News / Race Report TAGS: Canadian Cyclocross Championships / Chris She / Emily Batty