The Tour de Whitehorse was held this past weekend, and the event welcomed several elite athletes back to the Yukon.

Jesse Reams, a Watson Lake cyclist training down south was in town for the event, and managed to sweep three out of four events.

Reams currently rides for a sponsored team at an elite level. His experience helped push him over the Whitehorse crowd.

Three other cyclists made the trek to Whitehorse for the tour including Dan MacDonald, Dave Gonda and Troy Henry.

Battling a tough head wind, Audrey Sellars competed in three events in the novice women's category.

"Audrey Sellers was an inspiration for everyone as she completed all three events,” said Scott Kerby, president of the VeloNorth Cycling Club.

– – –

Canada Day Criterium

Mother Nature must have an affection for criteriums as a window of dry skies and dry roads greeted the 14 riders who participated in the Tour de Whitehorse kick-off event, the Canada Day Criterium.

The loop route sling-shot riders around 5th Ave., Steele Street, 6th Ave., Jarvis Street and back on to 5th Ave. where the start/finish line was.

Laps took 50 to 70 seconds and tight corners, high speeds, and constant jockeying for position made the race intense to ride and fun to watch.

The riders started and ended as a group, but were competing in their respective categories throughout the race. The criterium was 25 minutes in length plus two laps with five bell laps during which riders raced for points.

Kelsey Kabanak, in the sport women category, rode strong and persevered, riding much of the route on her own and still finishing with a smile on her face.

In the sport men category, Tim Sellers and Darren Holcombe stayed with the same chase group (comprised of both sport and expert riders) for all of the race, both taking turns leading, attacking and pushing the pace at different times. At the finish line, however, it was Holcombe who had earned the most points.

Jillian Chown, an experienced rider competing in the expert women's category, finished first, followed closely by Nadele Flynn.

In the expert men category, which was the largest group, the split separating the leaders and chase group happened early. Jesse Reams, who was back for the Tour de Whitehorse and has been cycling competitively down south, wasted no time helping put a significant gap between the four leaders and those chasing. At the finish line, it was Reams who had accumulated the most points, followed by Troy Henry and Darryl Hansell.

A big thanks to the many Velonorth volunteers who helped with this race as well as the City of Whitehorse By-Law staff for traffic control.

Submitted by Scott Kerby, president of the VeloNorth Cycling Club.

– – –

Tour de Whitehorse results

Canada Day Criterium

(No times reported)

Sport women

1. Kelsey Kabanak

Sport men

1. Darren Holcolm

2. Tim Sellers

Expert women

1. Jillian Chown

2. Nadele Flynn

Expert men

1. Jesse Reams

2. Troy Henry

3. Darryl Hansell

4. Scott Kerby

5. Brian Macdonald

6. Lawrence Ignace

7. Ryan Burlingame

8. Jamie Bissell

Sean McCarron (DNF)

– – –

30-km ITT Results

Novice women

1. Audrey Sellers 1:17:20

Sport women

1. Shannon Meekins 1:01:47

Sport men

1. Darren Holcombe 48:17

2. Rob Rees 49:50

3. Laurence Ignace 52:55

4. Tim Sellers 52.57

5. Bill Curtis 53:13

6. Randy Lamb 55:29

Expert women

1. Trena Irving 53:49

2. Jillian Chown 54:30

3. Kelsey Kabanak 54:52

Expert men

1. Jesse Reams 40:52

2. Dan Macdonald 41:53

3. Troy Henry 42:04

4. David Gonda 44:07

5. Jerome McIntryre 44.57

6. Ryan Burlingame 46.23

7. John Berryman 47:02

8. Brian Macdonald 47:11

9. Darryl Hansell 49:10

10. Glenn Iceton 51:34

11. Mike McCaan DNF

– – –

Prologue results

Novice women

1. Audrey Sellars 12:54

Sport men

1. Rob Rees 6:16

2. Darren Holcombe 6:16

3. Tom Ullyett 6:35

4. Tim Sellars 6:52

5. Bill Curtis 6:52

6. Randy Lamb 6:53

Sport women

1. Shannon Meekins 8:04

Expert men

1. Jesse Reams 4:57

2. Troy Henry 5:09

3. Dan MacDonald 5:12

4. David Gonda 5:19

5. Ryan Burlingame 5:29

6. Jerome McIntyre 5:43

7. Mike McCann 5:48

8. Sean McCarron 5:52

9. Glenn Iceton 5:56

10. Scott Kerby 5:59

11. Darryl Hansell 6:01

12. Brian MacDonald 6:02

13. Lawrence Ignace 6:17

Expert women

1. Jillian Chown 6:45

2. Trina Irving 6:48

3. Nadele Flynn 7:23

4. Kelsey Kabanak 7:25

– – –

Sunday road race results

Expert men (85 km)

1. Dan Macdonald 2:08:59

2. Jesse Reams 2:09:01

3. Troy Henry 2:09:02

4. David Gonda 2:09:03

5. Ryan Burlingame 2:18:08

6. Jerome McIntyre 2:18:21

7. Darryl Hansell 2:18:59

8. Mike McCaan DNF

9. Scott Kerby DNF

10. Brian Macdonald DNF

11. Glenn Iceton DNF

Expert women (75 km)

1. Nadele Flynn 2:08:11

2. Kelsey Kabanak 2:14:45

3. Trena Irving 2:20:11

Sport men (75 km)

1. Lawrence Ignace 2:04:44

2. Darren Holcombe 2:04:45

3. Rob Rees 2:04:46

4. Rick Scramstad 2:07:10

5. Tim Sellers 2:08:22

6. Bill Curtis 2:08:43

7. Dean Eyre 2:38:03

Sport women (75 km)

1. Shannon Meekins N/A

Novice women (40 km)

1. Audry Sellers 1:56:09

– – –

Overall winners

Expert men - Jesse Reams

Expert women - Kelsey Kabanak

Sport men - Darren Holcombe

Sport women - Shannon Meekins

Novice women - Audry Sellers