February 17 - Beat the Clock - Canada Road ITT
Race info

Results

Report: by Carola F. Berger, Webcor/Alto Velo

Our intrepid reporter: Carola F. Berger, Webcor/Alto Velo

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Albeit promoted as a "low key" event, the competition at the first 2007 Canada Time Trial was fierce between the star-studded participants. BtC News reports live from the scene:

We are here on a glorious day in sunny Northern California, reporting live from the finish line of the first 2007 Beat the Clock Canada Time Trial. Although several World and National champions who usually participate in this event prefer a more vertical challenge this time, the sizeable field of 49 riders sports no shortage of World, National, and District champions.

And off he is -- our first starter of the day, Brian Peterson of the Webcor/Alto Velo squad, rolls off the nonexistent start ramp as the next rider lines up. The riders start in one-minute increments.

While we are waiting for our first time-check at the finish line, a few words about this incredible event whose proceeds fully go to the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation. The event is once again professionally set up by Beat the Clock Director Patt Baenen-Tapscott and her crew. Jim and Ann Christol formidably handle the registration of the racers, Chris and Connie Miller and Bob and Sue Walker are manning the turnaround points on this highly technical straight course to prevent riders from riding all the way to San Francisco. Debra Paulsen is doing a fantastic job controlling the crowd which is going wild now as start official Debbie Merritt is about to send off the next rider! Mathematician Jim Turner and Theoretical Physicist Carola Berger will have the difficult task of timing the racers by performing such complex calculations as addition and subtraction.

And here he comes -- Brian Peterson is blasting through the finish line, topping the leader-board with a time under 24 minutes. But the next rider is already approaching, in fact, three riders are coming in now, Jens Heycke of team "unattached" passing the other two who can only gasp for air as he moves to the top of the leader-board with an incredible time of 22:50!

Can anybody top his time?
We will find out when we come back after a short nap, ahem, break.

It is now 8:00am, and none of the male riders could break Jens Heycke's incredible time of 22:50, as now our first female participant, Molly Van Houweling of the Metromint team, lines up after taking a sip from her sponsor's performance enhancing product.

We will find out how she fares when we come back after another nap, oops, break.

And Molly Van Houweling takes the lead in the womens competition with a time that is over a minute faster than the 2nd placed woman. Next up is the Merckx-style category followed by the team events.
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We are now reporting live from the awards ceremony. Jens Heycke of Unattached wins the individual men's category as well as 2nd place in this category, Molly Van Houweling of Metromint smoked the women's field. Mark Edwards of Team Bike Trip gets first prize in the heavily contested Merckx category. Peter Tapscott and Matt Morenzoni's time (Webcor/Alto Velo) in the team event was too fast for any of their competitors who had to battle increasingly gusty headwinds of 1 mph and flat tires. Richard and Mary Ellen Allen, representing Genentech, place first in the heavily contested tandem category (field size 1 tandem).

This is it from the first 2007 Canada Time Trial. Stay tuned for our live coverage from the second event on March 17! Now back to the studio.

This just in: Beat the Clock fails to test for CCC!

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It has come to our attention that the Beat the Clock management failed to test the participants for the performance enhancing product CCC (commonly known as Chocolate Chip Cookies). In fact, registration mastermind Ann Christol was seen handing out several such items at rider sign-in!

Beat the Clock Director Patt Baenen-Tapscott assures us, however, that CCC, when taken before a time trial event, certainly does not have a performance enhancing effect: "A rider who is silly enough to eat one before the start will have a hard time breathing if some crumbs get into the wrong pathway." Nevertheless, the Beat the Clock management promises to have a certified BACA agent [eds. note: Beat the clock Anti-Cookie Agency] at the next event, testing riders for CCC crumbs.

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