Widmer and Firth extend TransRockies lead

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With stage five looming the riders woke to a fifth straight day of sunny skies. An overnight hailstorm pelted the camp but any evidence of wet weather was largely gone by start time. Today the field would be tested by some of the hardest climbs of the event with elevation gains of 2100 metres over 65 plus kilometers.

Men's Open TR7 leaders Jon Firth and Stefan Widmer built a solid lead through the first three stages with three victories. In stage 4, they were defeated by one second. Early on day 5, on the descent from Prairie Creek Trail, the boys were in the thick of things with the Rocky Mountain Factory Team. By day's end, the gap had opened up to 20:49, and Widmer and Firth took the win in four hours and 17 minutes.

Large gaps between first and second place would be the theme of the day with the Open Women's team of Jean Ann Berkenpas and Sandra Walter cruising in ahead of Alana Heise and Nicole Muzecheka by a margin of nearly 48 minutes.

The long climb up Moose Mountain continued to spread out the field with Pat Doyle and Craig Bartlet eventually crossing the line, for a win in the Men's 80+, in 4:35:34 over one hour and seven minutes ahead of stage 4 winners Milan Spolc and Jiri Benes.

Husband and wife team Eva and Marco Carrer continued to roll through the 80+ Mixed category with their fifth straight victory.

The closest finish of the day came in the Open Mixed category with the team of Normon Thibault and Wendy Simms improving on their second place finish of stage 4, winning by one minute and eight seconds.

Joe McCarthy and Randal Walker were able to outlast Darrell Jones and Tom Ebbern by a margin of 4:43 for victory in the 100+ Open.

40+ TR4 competitor Jeff Neilson seems to have hit his stride after his second place overall finish in the TR3. Two days and two stage wins into the TR4 he's leading the pack by almost 23 minutes over second place rider Geoff Clark.

TR4 Open Men's leader Neal Kindree of Team Specialized continued his winning ways with a three minute and 10 second win over Dougal Allan.

TR4 Open Women's winner Kristin Walters took her second straight stage in a time of 6:34:42.

Full Results