This last weekend Nigel Ellsay competed with the Cycling BC Juniors at the Tour of Walla Walla in rural South-Eastern Washington. It was the first time this year the juniors had competed together as a team and ended with big learning curves yet great results… Friday’s 42 mile road race proved to take a toll on all athletes, with many ending up leaving with hyperthermia. Fortunately, all the Cycling BC Juniors stayed out of trouble and finished well. Many athletes found themselves in short-lived breakaways, well representing the team. A little over halfway through, Nigel Ellsay found himself 2nd at the KOM sprint, gaining valuable time bonuses. After the KOM the race settled down for everyone except the boys in red and blue (of Cycling BC) as they kept hammering the field with attacks. Many team members found themselves in moves during this part of the race. But by 3km to go, at the bottom of the days major climb there remained 2 breakaway members charging 45 seconds ahead of the group. But not wanting to admit defeat, Jeff Doyle and Nigel Ellsay screamed up the mountain side to bring back the group. Unfortunately, though the boys could only bring back 1 of the breakaway members with the other finishing 10 seconds up. But with a good lead out, Adam de Vos managed to pull out a 6th place finish. Saturday morning’s race was a 9.2 mile TT loop, with flats, a 1 mile climb, 1.5 mile descent and a finale of flats. This course proved to be an excellent style for Nigel Ellsay, as he won the event by 11 seconds, putting him 42 precious seconds into the lead. Later that afternoon the athletes competed in a 40 minute downtown Walla Walla criterium. After sporting the yellow leader’s jersey to the starting line, Nigel and his teammates hurriedly clipped in and raced along the fast, windy downtown roads. After covering many breakaway attempts, all athletes ended up winning at least one prime each. But that wasn’t it for the boys in blue and red. With 3 laps to go teammates Jeff Doyle, Geordie Morrison and Nigel Ellsay all made strong pulls to keep at bay break-away attempts that might interfere with Adam de Vos’s leadout. Then in the final straightaway, Nigel Ellsay hammered along the outside bringing up de Vos to the grand finale. De Vos pulling out an exceptional 3rd place finish. After many ice baths the Cycling BC team lined up to the Sunday race course line still sporting the yellow leader’s jersey, and with the main goal to protect it at all costs. The hard course would suit the team, with 4 major climbs and 2 smaller hills. For the first two thirds of the race the Cycling BC team did everything possible to reel in breaks and have a person up the road. But by the last third of the race, Ellsay was by himself, besides a couple of cracked team members. With 40 kilometers to go everyone in the top 10 of GC seemed to instantly realize that they needed to be up the road and gain valuable time to move themselves up the GC list. Fortunately though, the furry of attacks only lasted up till 15 kilometers to go, when most people realized they couldn’t take over the top spot on GC. The race would then end with a bunch sprint of 30 riders, with Ellsay securing his GC win by approximately 40 seconds.