![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-Canadian-XCC-national-championships-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Joshua Tyers, in the red and black of Ontario left, wasn\u2019t fastest off the start, but already had his eyes on the front of the race.\nUnder-17 XCC championships<\/p>\n
The first Cycling Canada championship race of the day was the under-17 women. Anna Christensen (Ontario \/ Shredders) earned the win ahead of Hannah Lehmann (Ontario \/ Collingwood Collective) and Megan Ruelland (CVM Sigma Assurance).<\/p>\n
On the men\u2019s side, Joshua Tyers (Ontario \/ Hot Tubes Development) quickly moved to the front of a large U17 men\u2019s field and stayed there to claim the win. Tom Lawson (Stimulus Trek) and James Pinfold rounded out the podium in second and third.<\/p>\n
Junior women XCC Canadian championships<\/p>\n In the junior women\u2019s race, Elaine Blais (Pittstop Racing Team) quickly moved to the front. Lacey Dennis (Charge Racing) and Alexa Haviland (Shredders Race Team) chased hard, but Blais could not be stopped. She takes the junior women\u2019s title with Dennis in second and Haviland third.<\/p>\n Junior Men\u2019s XCC championships<\/p>\n In the next race up, Emilien Belzile delivered a matching result for the Pittstop Racing Team. While a large group of junior men stayed together for much of the 20 minute race, Belzile launched a searing attack up the main climb on the back of the short course, dropping the remainder of the field and soloing away to victory. Ethan Wood (Charge Racing) would take second with Evan Moore (Collingwood Collective) third.<\/p>\n In one of two headlining events, the elite and under-23 women raced in a combined field, with separate titles awarded for each category. For a while, it looked like Rafaelle Carrier (Trinity Racing) might take both titles. The Quebec race lead early and was often on the front of a group that whittled down to Emilly Johnston (Scott-SRAM), Ella MacPhee (Wilier-Vittoria) and Marin Lowe (Liv Factory Racing).<\/p>\n At the finish line, though, it was Ella MacPhee racing up into elite, making a late pass to cross the line first.<\/p>\n \u201cI put in a really hard effort going into the descent on the last lap, but Raf was there as well,\u201d MacPhee explained. \u201cThere was a little short climb on the descent and I was able to sneak around and just attack to the finish from there.\u201d<\/p>\n MacPhee takes her first national title, winning the elite women\u2019s XCC Canadian championships.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt very in control during this race. I had a plan to put a little dig in with four laps to go and see what happens,\u201d MacPhee said after the finish, adding that a fast pace from the front group over a tactical battle helped stretch out the race. \u201cThe legs were feeling good, and we were working well to really push the pace into the downhills.\u201c<\/p>\n Carrier crosses the line second, winning the under-23 women\u2019s title.<\/p>\n Emilly Johnston (Scott SRAM) finishes third overall and second in the elite women\u2019s race. Anne Marie Gautier rounds out that podium in third.<\/p>\n Behind Carrier, Marin Lowe (Liv Factory Racing) and Elli Clark (Caledon Hills Armada) round out the under-23 women\u2019s podium. They also finish fourth and fifth in the combined elite\/u23 women\u2019s field.<\/p>\n For the final race of the day, the slowly intensifying rain hit a crescendo. The rain the elite women finished in finally managed to soak through the dust to create properly wet conditions.<\/p>\n Pivot Cycles-OTE started the elite\/under-23 men\u2019s race, like the women a combined field with separate titles, with numbers on their side. The blue train used that to their advantage, working to control the pace wherever possible.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s perfect for me. We sort of have a strategy that we don\u2019t go hard until 12 minutes at World Cups so I was just hanging out in the group,\u201d Carter Woods said after the race. \u201cI did a little test with two to go and saw the field was quite stretched out. So I attacked the start\/finish, attacked the climb and saw there was a decent gap and rode it home to the line.\u201d<\/p>\n Woods takes the elite men\u2019s XCC national title for 2026.<\/p>\n Woods, coming off career-best results at the end of a long block of European results, carried much of that form even over a quick transition from Sunday\u2019s XCO World Cup in Andorra back to Canada\u2019s west coast. For the Vancouver Island-born racer, and new father, it\u2019s a rare opportunity to race in front of extended family and, with results in pocket, race with a bit less stress.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always nice, The last years coming back here, I\u2019ve really enjoyed it,\u201d Woods said after congratulations from his grandparents in the finish area.<\/p>\n Gunnar Holmgren (Pivot Cycles-OTE) holds on for second with Logan Sadesky earning one of two podiums for local team with big ambitions, Blue Bridge Racing.<\/p>\n Ian Ackert (Pivot Cycles-OTE) sees his work on the front pay off with an under-23 XCC national title. He\u2019s joined on the podium by Mika Comaniuk (Pittstop Racing) and Blue Bridge Racing\u2019s Soren Weselake, also hot off a successful block of European racing.<\/p>\n Racing at 2026 Canadian cross country national championships continues on Friday with masters championship racing. The Elite, under-23 and juniors get a day of rest before taking on the full XCO championships course on Saturday.<\/p>\n Full results from all Thursday\u2019s XCC racing in Langford are online now. Under-17 women<\/a>, Under 17 men<\/a>. Junior women<\/a>. Junior men<\/a>. Elite\/Under-23 women<\/a>. Elite\/Under-23 men<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026 Canadian cross country national championships kicked off with a day of fast short track racing and wild…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[283633,49,48,79223,635,99923,1700,62722,82,88305],"class_list":["post-807573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2026-canadian-mountain-bike-national-championships","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carter-woods","tag-cycling","tag-ella-macphee","tag-mtb-features","tag-mtb-news","tag-sports","tag-xcc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Rafaelle Carrier took the holeshot in the combined elite\/under-23 women\u2019s field on Thursday.
\nElite and Under-23 women<\/p>\n<\/a>Emilly Johnston (left) and Ella MacPhee (right) test the legs mid-race in the elite women\u2019s XCC.<\/p>\n<\/a>Ella MacPhee wins the 2026 elite women\u2019s XCC title at Jordie Lunn Bike Park in Langford, B.C<\/p>\n<\/a>The elite\/U23 men\u2019s start line.
\nElite\/U23 men\u2019s XCC championships<\/p>\n<\/a>Woods follows Ackert and Cole Punchard with Logan Sadesky on his wheel.<\/p>\n<\/a>Ian Ackert was on the front of the elite men\u2019s race quite often on Thursday. That effort was rewarded with a maple leaf jersey for the next 12 months.<\/p>\n