Cory Wallace was on fire the whole race. Comfortably riding in fourth place in the Canadian Marathon Championships in Quebec, the Jasper native knew it was his race to win. All day he had passed other riders with little effort. His mental focus was sharp, and his legs just weren鈥檛 getting tired.
鈥淵ou only get a few rides like that a year,鈥� he said a few days later in a Skype interview. 鈥淭o have it happen on the national championships鈥攊t鈥檚 awesome.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 until he saw the fifth-place rider bombing straight towards him that he felt his victory start to slip away.
A freak bend in the trail had turned him around; he had been riding the wrong way. He cursed, flipped his bike around, and pedaled like mad.
Then followed 15 nerve-wracking minutes of powering through the woods. Wallace had no idea how far behind he was. He worried he might already be out of the race. He wasn鈥檛 sure if he was even on the proper course.
Finally, he came to a feed station where someone told him he was two and a half minutes behind the leaders.
鈥淚 was so relieved,鈥� he remembers. 鈥淚t meant I was still in the race, and that I hadn鈥檛 messed it up too [badly].鈥�
But he still had a lot of catching up to do. Nine times out of 10, a gap that large is impossible to close, he said.
But this was his race to win.
And win it he did. Not only did he catch the group, he did it with time to spare, so he put everything on the line, attacking hard and blasting by the leaders.
Now he had a dilemma. His Kona teammate, Kris Sneddon, was in second place. Wallace could either wait for him so the two could guarantee a one-two finish, or push forward on his own.
鈥淚t was a pretty easy decision,鈥� Wallace said.
He waited, and the two of them rode hard to the finish together, locking down first and second place. With about three kilometres left in the race, they looked at one another, knowing what had to happen.
鈥淲e both wanted to win,鈥� Wallace remembers, 鈥渁nd someone has to be first.鈥�
Wallace had a slight twinge of guilt as he crossed the finish line in first place, but that was secondary next to the realization that he had just won his first-ever Canadian championship.
He had wanted this victory for years and was elated to have finally achieved it.
Wallace, however, has barely had time to enjoy his victory. He is already in Mongolia, defending his title at the Mongolia Bike Challenge.
In typical mountain-biker fashion, he had little to say about the pressure of representing his country, defending his title or the grueling race that awaits him in Mongolia.
鈥淚 try not to look at it too hard. I just want to ride my bike,鈥� he said.
As of Monday, Wallace was leading the pack in Mongolia. Check back next week to find out how he fared.
Trevor Nichols
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