The event – staged by the Moose Jaw Pavers cycling club – featured riders from throughout the province and western Canada taking part in three races through two days of competition: a time trial hill climb in Buffalo Pound, criterium on the tarmac at 15 Wing and road race from Bushell Park and down into Wakamow Valley.
Gagnon, a member of the provincial cycling team, finished second in the hill climb with a time of 5:44, eight seconds back of Saskatoon’s Michael Gavelis. He followed with a commanding 17-second win ahead of a trio of riders in the criterium, crossing the line in 38:04, before closing out with a second place finish in the road race and a time of 2:01:58.
B’yauling Toni of Saskatoon broke away from the group to win the road race in a time of 2:01:41.
In the women’s division, Caitlyn Kirkpatrick of Saskatoon pulled off a sweep on her way to the title, winning the time trial in 6:50, the criterium in 33:33 and a full lap ahead of the nearest competitor and the road race in 1:49:31, just under 13 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.
Regina’s Jonathan Slywka also had a perfect weekend in the Category 4 division, finishing first across the board (6:30 time trial, 32:41 criterium and 1:49.16 road race).
It was much the same case in the Category 5 race, this time with Regina’s Dufton Lewis taking the sweep, even if all three of his races were close. He won the time trial by 15 seconds in 6:22, squeaked out a 14-second win in the criterium and finished with the same time as Regina’s James Korpan in the road race in 1:13:44.
The Pavers’ Jennifer Gauthier took part in the road race and finished 20th overall in a time of 1:24:01.
The event was part of the Sask Cup road race series and acted as one of the qualifying events for the Western Canada Summer Games in Swift Current this fall.
