The third season of the Victoria Segment Challenge is a wrap, and here’s some of the highlights – and better late than never! 😂
Out on gravel trails, running from September 11th – November 5th, 2023, 8 weeks of segments were taken on with one Challenge/Timed segment ever two weeks, and a number of QOMs and KOMs were claimed!
Some quick stats:
- Number signed up: over 50
- Number in the Strava group: nearly 200
- Number who rode at least one S3 segment: 50
- Male:female split: 29:21
Special Recognition
We had 11 riders who made it out every single week (four more than any Road season), and I’d be remiss not to recognize Dan B, Julian C, Kathy M, Tania J, Dave B, Markus K, Spencer F, Lani, Chris VS, Josh D, and Kit SJ for this achievement! (I also made it out each week, but not sure if I should count! 😉)
More Neat Stats
Here’s a few neat charts from our sign-up as well:
The series welcomed 41% new riders, and nearly 60% were returning from a previous Road Season.
Our series has a great (for cycling) ratio for gender, and is perhaps more inviting and convenient for many.
And what have people been riding? No surprise – mostly gravel bikes, and one MTB!
The Series
For the Gravel series we mixed it up, with less timed segments. There were 2 segments posted each week, and every other week featured one ‘Timed/Challenge’ segment. For the non-timed segments, riding it would score you 50pts, and for the Timed/Challenge segments there were points awarded based on position. Segments were often more ‘routes’, highlighting various connectors across town, passing through Esquimalt, Colwood and Royal Bay, Royal Roads, Thetis and Francis King Park. You can review the full archive of segments here.
Of course a big thank you and congrats to ALL our riders, but we have to focus on the top of the leaderboards, and here’s our season end breakdown!
The A’s
Beginning with the female side, it started off strong with 6 taking on the first segments, but newcomer Sofia started off on the top step of the Challenge weeks, and maintained that spot most weeks, although Katja kept her working, and it came down to the final segment to get a solid result!
In the end, the final podium is:
- Sofia Donnecke (715pts)
- K 🙂 (689pts)
- Samantha Hoft (397pts)
Over on the Open side, we had just four riders, and Julian put in a dominant performance on the Challenge weeks to take the top spot, although Calum and Dan didn’t give him too much rope!
That means our Open A podium is:
- Julian Cameron (815pts)
- Dan Blackwell (782pts)
- Calum Findlay (699pts)
The B’s
We had a great Female B competition with 8 riders hitting at least one segment, but the main duel was between Tania and Kathy….and the finish was CLOSE!
Our final Female B podium is:
- Kathy M (809pts)
- Tania Johnson (799pts)
- Christine Neal (295pts)
The Open B field as usual was our largest, with 16 riders, and while Travis F and Spencer claimed all the top times, consistency resulted in Dave B earing a podium spot along with myself! Not far off the podium were Markus, Kevin T, Joel W and Glennon, fantastic season guys!
Here are those top results:
- Spencer Floyd (784pts)
- Dave Shishkoff (778pts)
- Dave Bitschy (776pts)
The C’s
Our Female category started pretty strong, but unfortunately Lani was the only one who was able to make every week, and so earned top spot for this field, hopefully we’ll see more Female C gravel riders hit the trails more frequently next fall! 🤩
- Lani * (787pts)
- Laura Ockenden (397pts)
- Suzy Sylvester (300pts)
On the side of the guys, there was as always some great competition, with newcomer Donnie Kendrick taking top points in the first Challenge week, but consistency paid off for our podium riders who also kept us guessing until the end.
Out of 10 riders, here’s our Top 3:
- Chris VS (795pts)
- Josh Durgin (784pts)
- Kit St. John (772pts)
That completes our Season Podiums! Note in the scoring sheet the tabs at the bottom to flip between overall and individual weeks. If a PDF is preferred, simply click here! Here is the full link to the GoogleDoc. (You can view the Notes each week for the Bonus and Curse details, which doesn’t show up in the table below.)
A massive thank-you to the businesses below for contributing to our Season 3 draw prizes!
- Season 3 Prize List – check it out! A special thanks to Dan for adding in a ton at the end!
Each week we gave away some of this awesome swag by random draw!
Finishing Up!
If anyone wants to re-live Season 3, here’s an archive of all the segments.
Also check out this ‘one segment to rule them all’ collection that Lani compiled – it’s a route that hits most of the segments from Season 3!
Season 3 was a blast, it was fun to mix it up and hit the trails. Thanks to all who joined in on this unique riding and ‘racing’ environment! It’s so inspiring to have so many jump on their bikes and ride these silly trails, and I’ll look forward to seeing you all in Season 4 and beyond! =)
– Dave
PS – Leave a comment below sharing your experience! What did you like about Season 3? Favourite segments or trails? Meeting others? Let’s hear your thoughts!
