Canadian Nationals: Dumaresq, Jones are DH champs

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• Results

By Jason Sumner, VeloNews associate editor

DH winner Dumaresq.

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Fair or unfair — a topic that’s been debated extensively — the 2003 women’s Canadian national downhill champion is Vancouver’s Michelle Dumaresq. The reason for the deliberation: Six years ago Dumaresq was a man. But after living “two many years in the wrong body” Dumaresq underwent sexual reassignment surgery, and with the blessing of the UCI, she’s been racing as a female pro downhiller for the last two years. Saturday she grabbed the biggest win of her career.

“I’ve trained a long time for this and this is what I was always pointing to,” said Dumaresq, after besting Claire Buchar by 2.62 seconds in Whistler, British Columbia. “I always knew I could race with the top girls. I’ve just had some bad luck in the past.”

As for her take on the levelness of the playing field, there’s no question in Dumaresq’s mind.

“Essentially I’m female,” she said, “and I don’t think for a split second that I have an unfair advantage. Look at my times and you see that they’re clearly in the range with the other World Cup women.”

But that’s a contention that isn’t uniformly accepted among Dumaresq’s competition.

“Weather she wins or loses, I think it’s unfair,” said second-place finisher Buchar. “We’ve all had a chance to work it out in our heads and right now there’s nothing we can do about it. We all still like her as a person. That’s not what this is about.”

As for the racing, Dumaresq was the No. 2 qualifier behind Buchar, but she cut down on her mistakes in the final run, posting a 4:05.86.

Jones celebrates his national title.

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“I wanted to break four minutes, but I washed out in one of the corners and was totally out of control,” she said. “I just kept thinking to myself I’ve got to beat Claire, I’ve got to beat Claire.”

In the men’s race, it was part-time Whistler resident Mike Jones grabbing the Maple Leaf jersey, after he bested Trevor Porter by 2.99 seconds. In the semifinals Jones posted the slowest qualifying time after snapping off his derailleur. That meant in the finals the Norco rider had to sit through an entire field of racers before finally getting to savor his win.

“That’s definitely the longest I’ve ever been in the hot seat,” said the 27-year-old. “It feels incredible now, though.”

Jones, who has been racing off and on for more than a decade, actually quit the sport for two years and worked as a fire fighter. But the call of the gravity game was too much to resist and he got back in three years ago.

“It took a while to get my form back,” Jones said. “But the wait was worth it.”

The only detraction from his win was the fact that two of Canada’s premier downhillers, Dustin Adams and Jordie Lunn, both missed the race due to injury.

“Obviously there’s two guys that weren’t here that could have made a difference,” Jones admitted. “But that’s part of racing, staying healthy all season.”

Racing in Whistler concludes Sunday with the men’s and women’s elite cross-country races. The women head out first at 11 a.m. followed by the men at 1:30 p.m. Check back to VeloNews.com for a full report, results and photos.

Tour jumper
VeloNews managed to catch up with Kona freeride pro Dave Watson who was just back from an eventful excursion to France. After being approached by a French cycling magazine a month and a half ago, Watson pulled off a monumental stunt, actually jumping over the back half of the peloton during the Alp d’Huez stage of the Tour de France. Watson estimated that the jump, a road gap, was about 45 feet in distance.

“I had to come in from a funky angle because there were some police in the way,” Watson explained. “And I had to time it just right because I didn’t want to go in front of the riders and spook them. It was a group of about 15 and I went over right at the end of the group.”

Watson added that he had to brake check ever so slightly right before take-off, and that caused him to come up about a foot short on the landing.

“I aired it nice,” he said. “But I got bucked and crashed pretty hard. It’s a jump I could do 10 times in a row no problem, but there was just so much going on.”

Asked what was the point of the jump, Watson said he “wanted to celebrate the progression of cycling. We’re in a rad sport and I wanted to do something to help get it to the masses. Whether people think I’m a hero or a zero, I don’t care. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but the only person in jeopardy was me.”

Photo Gallery

Results

TIM HORTON’S CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS; WHISTLER, BRITISH COLUMBIA; JULY 19-20; DOWNHILL; MEN: 1. Mike Jones, Norco, 3:39.65; 2. Trevor Porter, Cove Bikes, 3:32.64; 3. Eric Goss, Cove Bike Shop, 3:33:19; 4. Hugo Donais, Norco, 3:33.59; 5. Brian Mussellam, 3:36.23