Patrick Laffey, a member of the Gravity MTB Youth Development Race Team, placed eighth in the junior men’s division at the world downhill mountain bike championships, Sept. 1 at Mont Sainte-Anne, Que. He was just under seven seconds off the winning time. The 17-year-old has been competing this season in Europe in the World Cup downhill circuit. This summer, he raced to a pair of podium finishes in Europe, and won a B.C. championship.
Last weekend at Mt. Washington, Laffey was seeded first in qualifying but suffered a crash in his race run and did not finish in the junior expert division at the Steve Smith Memorial, BC Cup downhill final. Several of his Gravity teammates also raced. Carson Damery and Calum Barr were first and second respectively for U17 men. Cole Stinson and Ian Lehton were second and fourth respectively in U17 expert men. Emmy Lan, 15, was the top finisher in the junior women’s division, 15-18 years. Maddox Wyker was eighth in the U15 men’s class.
Other local finishers were Devin Stowe of Courtenay (second in junior sport men, 17-18 years) and Brandon Johnson of Cumberland (10th elite men).