Catharine Pendrel and Georgia Gould of the Luna Pro Team took national titles in Canada and the U.S. over the weekend, while their teammates dominated podiums around the U.S.
Pendrel won the Canadian National Cross Country Championships, held July 19 in Oro Medonte, Canada. In the lead with another rider close behind by the end of the first lap, she traded the front spot briefly before gaining it for good in the third lap. The title, her fifth Canadian National XC Championship, was especially meaningful in light of the fact that she was unable to compete in the race last year, when she was recovering from a broken collarbone. “I wanted the jersey. I certainly missed it around the world this year, and it’s something I hold dear to my heart, to be the number one Canadian. It’s special,” Pendrel said.
Gould topped the podium twice at the U.S. Cross Country National Championships, held the following day in Pennsylvania, winning both the short track and Super-D titles. “I tried to just pin it on the climbs and be smooth everywhere else,” said Gould of her victory in the last-ever Super-D National Championship race. “I felt better on the downhill today than I did all day yesterday. This downhill is so technical. I was able to refocus when I’d make a mistake and keep going. You have to remember that everyone is making mistakes in places on a course like this.” Her victory in the short track race a few hours later was hard-won. Gould and another rider attacked and took the lead in the seventh lap, and the two riders opened a gap on the rest of the field. Gould sealed her victory by fending off an attack from the other lead rider in the last lap and executing a pass on the final climb.
Gould and Pendrel weren’t the only Luna riders on podiums at major races over the weekend. Teal Stetson Lee finished sixth in short track, third in the Super-D and was tenth in cross country at the U.S. Nationals, while LUNA’s developmental athlete Hannah Rae Finchamp was seventh in the U-23 XC race. Danielle Kabush took third place at the XTERRA Mountain Championships in Beaver Creek, Colorado, with Shonny Vanlandingham fourth and Suzie Snyder sixth, while Katerina Nash won the Tahoe 100, held in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near the California and Nevada state lines.
Maxxis congratulates Catharine Pendrel, Georgia Gould and Katerina Nash on their victories and thanks all of the riders of the Luna Pro Team for their fine performances.
