Singletrack 6 2023: Stage 5

Hello Singletrack 6 - Stage 5!

Rack Attack Stage 5

Length: 46 km
Elevation gain: 1,200 m

Mother Nature provided us with a gorgeous start to Stage 5, Presented by Rack Attack. The sun was shining, and the weather was in the high teens, which meant racers had some pretty amazing conditions to start off with a bullet once more!  This stage is designed as a cloverleaf with three loops that return to the West Bragg Creek Day Use Area parking lot. The first loop took racers north, beginning with the rolling Telephone Loop XC ski trail. This is a wide, rolling trail with a few punchy climbs that did a good job spreading the riders out. Once at the far end of the trail, they  jump onto Long Distance, a singletrack that winds through the forest with intermittent views of the surrounding foothills. A fast descent brings everyone back to the parking lot and Aid Station 1 at 16km.

The second loop took riders onto the popular and rolling Braggin’ Rights trail, and then onto the beautiful Merlin View. Once at the far end of Merlin, they continued on the newly finished Kestrel singletrack. This fun ride offered lots of punchy climbs and fun short descents, culminating with a longer switchback descent at the end down to the newly reconstructed Tom Snow trail and Moose Singletrack. From here racers jumped back on the road bringing them back almost to the start and Aid Station 2 at 36 km. 

The third and final loop takes riders south on Ranger’s Summit and down the super fun Strange Brew descent. Boundary Ridge brought riders back to the West Bragg Creek parking lot and across the finish line. 

With 46 km of racing and plenty of singletrack, this stage was no joke, but it did have a very high level fun-factor, and left riders smiling!  

Stage 4's Women's podium was a swap on the top two steps, with Chelsee Pummel taking the top of the podium in a time of 2:50:55 and a mere few minutes behind was Hannah Simms at 2:56:55. Imogen Smith took the third spot with a final stage time of 2:59:49. Today's top 3 Men across the finish line had very similar finish to yesterday, with first place going to Carter Nieuwesteeg in a time of 2:13:52. Second  once again Cam Jones, who had a tire issues at the bottom of the first loop and lost a few minutes, but clawed his way back to finish at 2:15:39. Third spot on the podium had Raph Couturier back in the top 3 with a time of 2:25.00. What does all of this mean? It means were going to be in for a great final stage of racing tomorrow from Main Street in Canmore!