By Kamloops This Week
Catharine Pendrel is again the queen of the mountain.
The Kamloops mountain biker captured gold in Norway on Saturday, Sept. 6, racing in the 2014 Union Cycliste Internationale Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships.
It’s the second time Pendrel has won the championship — her first title came in 2011.
“I like to race from the front and when there’s an opportunity to take the lead, you should go for it,” Pendrel said.
“That’s always the kind of racer I have been. If you want to win the Worlds you have got to be willing to take some chances and go out strong. When I came through the finish line after the first lap and saw that I was 20 seconds faster than my team relay lap, I was pretty happy, and I felt that I could maintain it.”
Pendrel nearly lost the race on her last of six laps — by which point she had built a 43 second lead — when her tire was punctured on a sharp rock.
It took just 22 seconds for the tire to be changed out however, and she still finished 21 seconds ahead of Russia’s Irina Kalentieva to take gold.
-With files from The Canadian Press