Emily Batty defends title at Canadian mountain bike championships

Emily Batty of Brooklin, Ont., successfully defended her women's title as the Canadian mountain bike championships in Canmore, Alta.

The women's race as it came down to Canada's top two riders — Batty and Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops, B.C.  The pair quickly set themselves apart from the rest of the field on the first half lap, with Haley Smith of Uxbridge, Ont., remaining steady in third position through the race.

Batty and Pendrel remained side-by-side through the entire race until the final half lap, when Batty attacked on a climb, dropping her rival and winning her third Elite title.

"It was not an easy race by any means," Batty said in a press release.  "I rode my hardtail, and I was questioning a little bit whether that was the right choice because it is such a technical and bumpy course, but it was rocking up the climbs." 

"Catharine didn't make it easy; the two of us set a really high pace right from the start.  I found through the course of the race that I was feeling really good.  I knew I was going to put an effort in on one of the climbs at some point, and I chose a spot where I felt strong and punched it."

Peter Disera prevails in men's event

Youth prevailed in the men's competition as Peter Disera, 22, pulled the upset against his older peers.

The Horseshoe Valley, Ont., native has four top-10 finishes on the U23 World Cup circuit this season, and decided to ride up a category in hopes of gaining valuable UCI ranking points with a top-5 result.

Disera did more than just that.

"I felt really good and Dre [Bouchard] went with me," said Disera.  "Coming into the second lap, Raph [Gagne] came out of nowhere, so there were three of us. Going into the last three laps, I started throwing down attacks and Dre just fell off the back."  

"I felt good and [I] wanted to dictate the pace, so I stayed at the front.  I knew Raph was going to attack and I was able to follow and then get to the front before the descent.  Unfortunately he had a little mishap, but I was ready for a sprint."