While the 2014 Southern Lakes Loppet will officially go down in the record books as having finished in a tie, cyclists from both teams admit it was Shea Hoffman by a rim length.

Hoffman, 19, and Mike McCann, 67, battled all the way to the finish line in Tagish Saturday afternoon, ending the five-leg, 173-kilometre race simultaneously with a time of 5:21:35.

Jon Heaton, 40, rode the race solo and finished third – 23 seconds behind the leaders.

“Mike and Shea came across essentially together – but Shea had him by half a wheel or something,” said Shea’s father, Phil Hoffman, who teamed up with his son on a team dubbed pHsH.

“They kind of did a little sprint at the end, and Jon, because he had ridden by himself, dropped off,” the elder Hoffman added. “It’s a fun thing. They didn’t go at it too hard.”

McCann teamed up with his wife, Donna Jones, and Bill Curtis as the other winning team – A Rose Between 2 Old Thorns.

Curtis was a late addition to the squad, and he completed the first two legs before giving way to Jones, who rode one, before McCann took over.

“Mike’s a cagey old devil,” said Curtis. “Had there have been a nice big hill, I think he would have tried to break them on the hill ... There wasn’t. They had their little sprint to the finish. Mike is very objective and he said ‘No. Shea got me by a rim.’ Like 100 millimetres or something like that.”

Despite their admissions, the seventh annual race will go into the record books as a tie, and both winners didn’t mind sharing the glory.

“We were arguing who should take it,” Curtis chuckled. “There wasn’t as much competition this year. It’s a relaxed environment, not like the Kluane Chilkat where there’s 1,200 people. That’s why we like doing it.” 

Heaton, who completed the Kluane Chilkat race by himself last month, said he was running on fumes by the time the leaders saw Tagish in the distance.

“It was a long race,” he said. “By the end, I was just trying to hang on the lead group. I didn’t have much left. They would keep dropping me and I would pull myself back to them.

“It was probably the last five kilometres where I really started struggling. It was pretty exciting. For once, it was nice to be in the lead group.”

Heaton said while the road proves to be slightly rougher than most of the other races in the territory, the relaxed atmosphere proved refreshing.

The top time this year came nowhere near the race record of 4:42 – set last year by Stephen Ball and Ian Parker.

Solo cyclists Leo Elwell of Edmonton and Marg Wallace of Marsh Lake finished the race tied for last in 8:30:37, earning them the Crooked Wheel award.

The race route rolls through the Southern Lakes region, including the five communities of Tagish, Carcross, Mount Lorne, Golden Horn and Marsh Lake. The race start and finish line rotates through the communities each year.

Riders ranged in age from 11 to 68, but the total number of competitors was down significantly from previous years, with only 51 competing for a total of 17 teams.

That raised concerns with organizers, said chief of race Simi Morrison.

“This year was kind of a low year,” she said. “I don’t know what happened. We talked about it and we have to maybe make some changes or find something to make it more attractive.”

RESULTS

1. Phil Hoffman, Shea Hoffman (pHsH) Duo Men 5:21:35; Bill Curtis, Donna Jones, Mike McCann (A Rose Between 2 Thorns) 3-5 Mixed 5:21:35;

3. Jon Heaton (Crash Heaton) Solo Men 5:21:58;

4. Bill Waugh, Penny Sheardown, Ron Tait (The 180s) 3-5 Mixed 5:30:45;

5. Rick Scramstad, Wendy Scramstad, Heather Milligan, Julianna Scramstad, Dwight Redden (Mega Hurtz) 3-5 Mixed 5:59:21;

6. Simi Morrison, Gerard Dinn (MaryEllen Fire) Duo Mixed 6:10:34;

7. Emma Sutton, Arlene Yeulet, Lawrence Ignace (Seize The Day) 3-5 Mixed 6:34:55;

8. Deb Kitchen, Johanne Faulkner, Hein De Vries (Rough Riders) 3-5 Mixed 6:36:30;

9. Martin Haefele, Virginia Sarrazin, Aline Goncalves, Lynn Cheverie (Just Rollin) 3-5 Mixed 7:01:23;

10. Brendan Shopland, Lorie Munro, Felicia L’Heureux, Mike L’Hereux, Shannon L’Hereux (Fork ’N’ Tyred) 3-5 Mixed 7:03:57;

11. Paul Dabbs, Louise Girard (Tagish +55) Duo Mixed 7:11:42;

12. Sharon Johnson, Steven Harlow, Todd Harlow, Carolynne McCrea, Lynda Harlow (Halibutt Cheeks) 3-5 Mixed 7:18:04;

13. Lee Carruthers, Katrina Wohlfarth (2 For The Road) Duo Mixed 7:23:58;

14. Wyatt Sheardown-Waugh, Kevin Johnstone, Loralee Johnstone, Grace Sheardown-Waugh (Fashionable Show) 3-5 Mixed 7:50:50;

15. Leo Elwell (Squirrel Bait) Solo Men 8:30:37; Marg Wallace (Wild Thing) Solo Women 8:30:37.