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Members of the Norco Factory Team, Norco World Team and Dirt Norco Race team have all shifted east following Crankworx and are now in Windham NY. This is home to the final World Cup race of the season. Norco Factory XC riders Catherine Vipond and Andrew Watson have been ripping up the Cross Country course while Fionn Griffiths, Bernard Kerr and Ben Reid have been practicing the DH and are now through Qualification. Going into the Finals, Fionn has qualified in 10th for the women, Bernard 55th for the men and Ben is up in 34th for the men. Good luck to everyone over the next couple days of racing.

For full DH qualification results check out canadiancyclist.com

Photos by Jonathan Duncan

Last weekend in sunny Bromont,Quebec the Canada Cup XC series wrapped up for 2010. To date this has been a great Season for our Factory Team riders Andrew and Catherine, both in the running for Overall series titles.

Well they both ran into a little bad luck… Catherine flatted on her 2nd lap, having to run into the pits for a wheel change. She held strong
fighting back some spots, but had to settle for 2nd Overall in the
series….Not Bad.

Andrew was having a trouble free race battling it out with fellow National Team rider Derek Zandstra and Great Brittan’s Olympian Liam Killen, just before the last piece of single track he lost control and found himself hitting the deck hard. After collecting thoughts he rolled off course, not being able to finish. Good news being he had enough points to hold on and WIN the Overall..

With a 1st and 2nd in the overalls, both look forward to a World Cup in New York followed by World Championships in Mont St Anne in the coming weeks.

The past few weeks have been a little on the busy side for members of the Norco Team. From racing to demos, teaching to event hosting there has been a little bit of everything from the team’s diverse members.

The Canadian race crew has  been showing what they are made on the national circuit where two weeks back in Mt Tremblant at, Catherine Vipond took the win for the Elite Women while Andrew Watson was 2nd for the Men. Coming out of XC#3 in Hardwood Ontario, both Catherine and Andrew are wearing the leader’s jerseys for the both Pro XC categories. On the gravity side of the race circuit, junior Norco rider Nick Geddes had a near flawless race in  Tremblant finishing second for the junior men with an overall top ten finish for the day. Heading back to Whistler for the First Fluidride Cup, Nick took home the Junior win with the second fastest time of the day.

Trials sensation Ryan Leech is well into his Cross-Canada Trials of Life Tour. having passed through nearly every province it is now nearly time to head up north to Whitehorse for some riding, yoga and well deserved relaxation. If you want to spend some time relaxing with Ryan and riding with Boreal Mountain Biking check out borealmountainnbiking.com

Jay Hoots, or should I say Dr. Hoots has finished up teaching the Mountain Bike Operations Certificate program with Capilano University and is now back building bike parts across Canada. Dylan Korba, our resident economist has found time before heading back for his Master’s Degree to meet up with some friends at Decline Magazine, and get out riding his all new 2010 bikes. Darcy is busy preparing for her event this summer at Silverstar resort called “See Jane Jump” and Mislav has been busy winning competitions in Europe such as the recent “Bike Days” in Switzerland.

On the road side of things Team H&R Block competed in the BC Championships this past weekend in Victoria BC. Norco was out to support the team for Sunday’s Bastion Square Grand Prix where riders Justin Kerr and Jacob Schwingboth took second and third place after a grueling 75 lap race. Check out some photos of the race at flickr.com

The Dirt Norco Race Team has been touring around at the First World Cup in Maribor Slovenia where Ben Reid through the intense slop to finish a respectable 26th place. The Norco Dirt Team is currently sitting in 18th place on the World Cup Circuit. Check out a video from the race here. With Fort William coming up on this weekend The race will be as tight as ever. We should see Ben doing his best to climb the ranks while teammate Dan Stanbridge should be recovered from injury and back to racing. Check the blog next week for an update on the Dirt Team’s weekend of racing.

The Norco World Team was back in North America racing the US Open in New York this weekend where Fionn Griffiths again fought through the elements to finish with a time quick enough for 6th place. Along side the Norco Dirt Team, Fionn and Bernard will be heading over to Scotland for this coming weekend’s World Cup in Fort William. Results from the weekend will be posted as soon as they come available.

The Team is off to quite the season, for updates as they happen on the whole team check out the Norco Blog at http://norco.com/blog

photo from dirt.mpora.com

It is that time of year again when each and every weekend the racing circuit hops from continent to continent and we try to track it all…

The big result from this past weekend was Norco World Team rider Fionn Griffiths in the World Cup #2 in Marobor Slovenia. Pushing through a pack of 16, Fionn took the win edging out Huntington, Beerten an Buchanan in the final heat. Congrats Fionn on a big win! Other results from the event include Fionn finishing 12th in the DH, Ben Reid 26th and Bernard Kerr 53rd after a bit of a spill in the mud. For full results have a look at the 4X and the DH.

Back in North America, the first Canada Cup XC was taking place in Baie-Saint-Paul QC. In this 6 lap course Andrew Watson took 2nd place after battling at the front to the bitter end with Max Plaxton. In the Women’s Race, Catherine Vipond raced to an impressive 6th place with teammate Caroline Villeneuve coming in just behind in 7th place. Have a look at the full results here.

This Past weekend the Norco Crew made the epic journey From Vancouver BC to Edmonton AB for Canada Cup XC #4 in Kinsman Park. The course was fast with quick ups and downs and some very technical sections. Two Norco Factory Team Riders came out from Ontario along with one Grassroots Rider, all in the elite categories.

Catherine Vipond made the trip to Edmonton for the race and battled through some stiff competition finishing 4th in the Elite Women. In the Men’s category Andrew Watson flew in with grassroots rider Zachary Hughes. Zachary finished a respectable 22nd in the large field of 39. Andrew Watson rode most of the race in an impressive 6th place a little more than 1 min off the lead. From the sidelines we were hoping for a podium finish as he gave it all on the last lap. We were astounded as he ramped it up and passed rider after rider. Over the course of the final 1 ½ laps Andrew made up the minute lead and climbed the ladder into first place. Andrew ended up winning the Race with a lead of 1:04. WAY TO GO ANDREW!

This past weekend was a great success for the Norco Factory Team. What is really impressive though are the overall standings in the Canada Cup Series. Catherine is currently sitting in 2nd place for the Elite Women while Andrew is wearing the leaders’ jersey for the men. In DH world, Norco Factory Team Rider Hans Lambert is leading the Elite Men heading into Bromont on July 5th.

Have a look at some photos from this past weekend:

Dustan