The Burns Lake Mountain Biking Association (BLMBA) hosted its sixth annual Big Pig Mountain Biking Festival Aug. 16-18 2013.
The event drew participants from Prince George, Smithers, Telkwa, Ft. St. James, Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof, Hazelton, Terrace, Kamloops, Calgary, Evansburg, Grand Prairie, Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Sri Lanka, and, Burns Lake.
Kid’s events
This year’s Big Pig kicked off with the kid’s events on Friday night. A record 48 youth came out to test their skills. The youth had the option of entering in downhill, cross-country and pump track event. In the under-7 age group, Ethan Eskelin of Smithers took first in the downhill for the boars, and Sage McCabe of Kamloops for the sows. Toan Krauskopf of Smithers was top boar pump track rider, with local Ella Broadworth the top sow. In the 7-9 age group, Tosh Krauskopf of Smithers was the top boar downhill rider, and local Zoey Thom-Lucy top sow. Tye Peters of Ft. St. James was fastest boar downhill rider, and Esme Eskelin of Smithers the top sow. In the 10 to 12 year old category, the top sow in all events was Avril Thom-Lucy of Burns Lake. Connor Newberry of New Hazelton was the fastest boar in downhill, Trent Peters of Ft. St. James in pumptrack, and Jesse Hunter of Telkwa in the cross-country race.
Downhill race (Charlotte’s Web = 3.8 km)
In the boar category, cutlet winner for the second year in a row was Heiko Krause of Smithers (11:46), second local Cormick Turner (12:17), and third Damian Georgyev of Prince George (12:20). Junior tender first and second places went to locals Eli Gurtins (11:42) and Ricky Wainwright (12:25). Third place went to Ethan McLellan of Smithers (13:20). Senior tender winner was local Andre Dube with a time of 9:50, with Anders Person of Smithers taking second place (11:30).
Lean boar winner – and overall fastest time in the boar category - was Jonathan Nutbrown of Calgary (9:21), second was local Derek Thompson (9:29) and Brendan Johansen of Prince George was third (9:33). In the Gristle category, local Dave Sandsmark was fastest (9:48), Peter Krause of Smithers took second with a time of 10:00, and Pat Dube of Burns Lake was third (10:05). The loan freezer burn competitor was Sep Shanks of Sri Lanka. Shanks was also the loan competitor to complete this downhill race on a unicycle – a Big Pig first.
The junior tender sow winner was Breanna Robertson-Matthew of Smithers (14:25), followed by Rena Coyne of Whitehorse (14:39). The lean winner for the second year in row – and fastest sow time in this event - was Laurel Akehurst of Fraser Lake (10:42), followed by Helen Purslow of Terrace (11:46). The loan gristle sow contestant (and thus fastest time in this category) was local Patti Dube (13:11).
4-Cross Race
The 4-cross race consists of 4 riders riding abreast, vying for the “best line” on a winding course consisting of table tops, step ups and berm turns. This year this event was once again an awesome spectator sport. This year’s fastest overall boar 4-cross rider was Glenn King of Prince George.
The youngest age class winner was Damian Georgyev of Prince George, with Aiden Press and Tosh Krauskopf of Smithers tying for second. For the 11 and 12 year old boars, Trent Peters of Ft. St. James was first, followed by Heiko Krause of Smithers and local Cormick Turner. Local Andre Dube took first in the 14-17 year old boars, with Nathan Johnson of Ft. St. James second and local Eli Gurtins third. Prince George took all the senior tender winning positions: Willard Andal first, Glenn King second and Quinton Ginter third. Local Patti Dube took first for the sows in 4-cross, with Reena Coyne of Whitehorse taking second.
Jump Jam
The Jump Jam consists of riding a series of dirt jumps, where riders are judged on amplitude, style and difficulty. The cutlet winner for the second year in a row was Heiko Krause of Smithers, second Tosh Krauskopf of Smithers, and third Damian Georgyev of Prince George. The junior tender winner was Trent Peters and second to Nathan Johnson, both of Ft. St. James. The lean category was swept by Prince George riders: First place went to Elliot Andal, second Quinten Ginter, with Willard Andal and Glenn King tying for third place. The overall winner for the Jump Jam went to Elliot Andal.
Dante’s Inferno
Dante’s Inferno has been increasing in length 10 km each year, with this year’s course rounding out at 70 kms. Twenty-six riders took on the challenge of completing this course, with 15 riders completing the full 70 km. Overall fastest times for boar/sow on the 70 km were Jonathan Nutbrown with an amazing time of 3 hours 41 minutes, and local Susan Russell with a time of 6 hours 3 mins.
Twins David and Robert Charette of Hazelton tied for first for the boar Jr. Tenders with a time of 4:55. In the lean boar division, Jonathan Nutbrown of Calgary took first place in a time of 3:41, followed by Michael Jordan of Prince George (4:38) and Lennard Pretorius of Kamloops (4:39). Nathan Blok clocked the fastest time in the Gristle category, completing the race in 4 hours 1 minute, with Kris Yip of Prince George second (4:09) and Peter Krause of Smithers third (4:16). Local Susan Russell was the only Gristle sow to complete the course.
Wilbur’s Wheelay
This was the second year for the Wilbur’s Wheelay, which can either be a team or solo event. This relay consists of completing as many laps of a 5 kilometer course as possible within 3 hours. 9 teams entered the event, with “Con Artists”, consisting of Rob Lok and Darha Phillpot of Yellowknife taking first place with 8 laps in a time of 2 hours 40 minutes. “Team Nutbrown” (Kris Cooper Nutbrown of Ft. St. James and Larry Nutbrown of Evansburg) took second (8 laps/2:54) and solo Kaia Andal of Prince George took third (8 laps/2:58).