Kelowna Hill Climb

Stage One of Fresh Air Experience Fantastic Four was a 3.4 km individual hill climb. The scenic course was just outside of downtown Kelowna on a hill that overlooked Okanogan Lake. As the riders expected we were treated with hot dry weather, something us Vancouverites were yet to experience this summer. The climb itself was a steady climb with a few steep kickers in the middle. Leah Goldstein Symmetrics, as expected won the climb with a time of 10:58, Sarah Stewart Symmetrics finished in 11:35 for second, and local rider Gillian Kornell Total Restoration rounded up the podium in 11:53. Time bonuses for the top three riders in each stage gave these three girls even more of a head start for the remainder stages with 15, 9, and 6 seconds respectively. Giant’s Leah Guloien got the courage to race despite feeling ill and rode to a 5th place finish in 12:08. Another notable ride from Giant was our rising start Pickle (Chelsea Bilsbarrow) who finished 10th with a time of 12:49. Laura Brown and Alena Radomsky added a couple more Giant riders to the top 10 with 6th and 7th place finishes. The hill climb gave an open door for improvement in the next 3 stages where the team’s strengths are, and we were excited to race for podium spots for the remainder of the race.