Alexander MacMillan is no stranger to competition, having competed in basketball, football, and a multitude of other sports at a high level including playing hockey in Europe on two different tours. He is currently playing Junior “A” hockey in the BCHL. Alexander is the longest standing member of the MCL Racing team, entering into his fourth year with the team. Some highlights over the last four seasons include an 8th place finish at the Sea Otter Classic, overall 1st in the AB Juniors and a top 10 at Monte St Anne. His season last year consisted of a multitude of top 10 finishes, finishing 12 points shy of graduating to the elite level due to injuries. He has competed in Down Hill, 4 Cross, Super D and Dual Slalom and looks forward to campaigning on his new Banshee Legend II and Rampant for a full season this upcoming year in the; Canada Cup series, at The Sea Otter Classic, Alberta Cups, BC Cups and both Crankworx events.
Kellen VanDorland joined the MCL Racing Team in its second year and has ridden all over western Canada as well as parts of Scotland for gravity events and at home built his own dirt jump track to practice his skills. The last two years he has had to balance engineering school with his love of all types of bike riding. During his schooling he always ensures weekend mornings are put aside for a fun ride. Kellen is looking forward to this year on his bike and concentrating on training more specifically on his DH skills. Volunteering his time to trail day clean ups and builds is also one thing he enjoys to help out the biking community as a whole. He also looks forward to entering in more BC cup races this coming season and in all events to always put the fun between his legs.
Owen Godbout started his way riding on two wheels as a child racing BMX throughout Ontario and Quebec. After returning from racing and riding the New Zealand circuits for 7 months, he is charging into his 3rd DH season as an Albertan and MCL Racing Team member. He showed early results as a competitor in Canada and NZ and is determined to once again become point’s leader in his division and ride a full clean cut season. This will be accomplished while managing a full time work career. “See you all on the Loamy goodness..... Hold it wide and let it slide”!
Al Raines is seventeen years old and riding gravity events for four years and racing for the last three. He joined the MCL Racing Team took in many of the AB and BC races last year and has enjoyed the atmosphere and support from the older members of this team. Living in Calgary he honed his skills and lots of skin in the local hills and drivable places like Kamloops, Whistler and Golden. Looks forward to riding both of his new Banshee bikes for the 2010 season and plans for a full gravity racing experience.
Thomas Walker’s life in mountain biking is pretty much a Canadian standard; first watching “Drop-In” and getting ideas when he was 11 to make jumps out of spare wood and worrying about building a landing after trying them out and seeing how far he could go in the air. Nothing can compare to the oblivious state of being a kid and wanting to ride so much but knowing so little. This upcoming season, although being 16 and facing the challenge of balancing homework and biking, he is extremely excited to be a member of MCL Racing Team riding his Banshee Legend II and representing all our other sponsors.
Patrick Clarke at 16 years old and having been born in Vancouver, biking is in his blood. He joined MCL Racing at the end of last season and was able to compete in his first two races before the snow came. He is on one of his bikes at least once a day and made a special effort to make the final weekend at Whistler. He was heard to say “I cannot wait to ride for the team and all the sponsors – I’m super stoked to compete in DH & 4X this upcoming season”.
Stephen Lombardo is a dedicated trail builder and rider throughout the Calgary bike scene. Like most other 16 year old bike riders he just wants to spend as much time as possible riding his Legend II and to progress with his riding skills. He unfortunately has no race results from last year as he was out with a broken collar bone gained while practicing for his first BC Cup race. This season Stephen plans to elevate his riding with the help of his Legend II and stay on his bike as much as possible while he competes in as many races as he can attend.
Tate Benwell spent his first years of biking in the wilds of Whitecourt, Alberta, where he originally picked up the love of challenging difficult bush trails. He excelled at the more physical games as he played tackle during several years of football on Bantam and High School teams. He has been riding for 6 years now and biking is his first passion and high level racing is a reachable dream now that he will be piloting the Banshee Legend II on this well organized biking team. One of his favourite pastimes is building trails and jumps and then being the one who ends up hitting them first and has the scars to show for it.
Thomas McMorran has spent most of his early years racing MotoX bikes both outdoor & indoor and still rides the odd race. Now the thrill of Down Hill bicycle riding and racing has taken the place of the motorized “adrenalin rush drive”. Thomas has experienced the variety of trails on almost every resort within driving distance of Calgary, once driving to Whistler for just a one day event. By 16 he has shown that he is a natural at scoping and conquering a new riding level. He has found many ways to conquer technical trails on a flying bike but he still has many more questions that together with the MCL Racing Team support and astride his Banshee Legend II will find the answers.
Sea Otter Team pictures to come as soon as I solve some computer issues with my notebook.
Keep Riding.
Rob Dunnet
