Gauvin, 15, takes the DH
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REMI GAUVIN launches himself into the abyss at the top of the big scary drop.
“I knew I’d had a good run, but I didn’t think I’d won, though. I’m pretty excited.”
Three days after becoming the youngest rider, and only the second local, to ever win the Hammerfest downhill, Remi Gauvin was still grinning.
And while his win may have surprised some people, including his sponsor Kebble Sheaff at AMC Cycle, those that know the fun-loving, 15-year-old mountain biker from Nanoose Bay say it was only a matter of time.
Gauvin, a Grade 10 student at Ballenas, was part of a field of 180 riders (up from 164 last year) ranging in age from 11 to 56 who took to the hills in deep Errington last Sunday for the 15th running of the Hammerfest DH.
Nanaimo’s Steve Smith. the top-ranked downhiller in the country, was a no show, but the big field of 55 expert men, said Sheaff, “was crazy tough ... there were some really fast guys in there. I can’t believe Remi won it, that was a complete shock to me when I heard, I mean he’s good, he’s fast, but he’s young, and most of the guys that win downhill are older, more experienced. You have to build up the body strength and you just have to have so much confidence to rail down a hill at that speed.”
Rail is right. The top riders fly down the hill, over rocks and roots and single track and launch themselves into the stratosphere numerous times throughout the course including the fan favorite big scary drop that takes the riders down into the dark forest.
“Into the abyss,” one rider recalled after.
Asked for some insight into the expert men, dominated by Island riders incidentally, Sheaff, one of the founders of Hammerfest, pointed to entrants such as Sidney’s Dean Tennant, 19. The two-time defending Island Cup downhill champion and Canada Cup competitor finished second. Other notables putting the hammer down included hard-charging 20-year-olds Andrew Mitchell from Victoria and Nanaimo’s Steve Chan.
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