The first-ever River City Gravel Fondo, an adventure gravel bike race, went well, according to organizers.
“Overall, the inaugural River City Gravel Fondo went very well,” says John Vanderveen. “These events always require a ton of prep work with land use agreements, course selection, staging areas, safety protocols in remote areas, etc. But for the first time, I think we did quite well.”
So far, Vanderveen says, riders have given organizers very positive feedback, especially regarding the three course tin the event. The three courses are on lands owned by the Mosaic Forest Management and offer views of the mountains and Campbell Lake.
The races have different durations based on intensity. The Impulso is a 40-kilometre race, the Intermedio is 70-kilometres, and the Esperto is 120-kilometres.
“The riders seemed to love the variety seen on [the] courses, from big remote climbs with wide open views of snow-capped mountains to challenging chunky descents. Punchy climbs and even some smooth flowy single-track made for a great day.”
Around 178 riders participated in the event.
Fabian Merino edged out local professional Cody Scott in a sprint finish in the Esperto race. Merino finished with a of time three hours and 53 minutes. McKay Vezina came in third. Katja Verkeek was the fastest for the women. She finished after four hours and 41 minutes, with Eleanor Winchell and Wanda Reddin coming second and third, respectively.
Jaymi Dumper finished the Intermedio race after recording a time of two hours and 26 minutes. Jenifer Cameron was the women’s leader, with a time of two hours and 45 minutes.
Max Sauter and Daiya Schlossberger won the men’s and women’s Impulso races.
Vanderveen is already thinking about next year’s event and what can be improved.
“I learned that Campbell River is a chock full of amazing people who are willing to sacrifice their time to help put on an event of this size and calibre,” he says.
He mentioned windstorms and vehicle accidents can impact the race. Both happened before the race day.
“So some course marking improvements will help. Otherwise, we’re very thankful for the RCMP and our race traffic control, which kept the riders safe,” he says.
Vanderveen also plans on more efficient pre-event planning, possibly getting the city to grade the Iron River Main forest road, which is “chock-full of car (and bike) swallowing potholes.”