Moose Stories

No I didn't see a moose, not in Belgium anyways. But that's what the Brits call us, the Moose.
Stef said Dave Coughlin wins the prize for the toughest Moose though. If you've never heard of Dave, he's at times the toughest guy and the softest all in one. Dave didn't come over this year, but for the last couple years, Dave makes the trip over and does his best to race Euro Cross.
As if Cross weren't hard enough, when Dave was here he didn't even have a car so he would either pump up his tires and ride there, to the race or take his bike on the train and then ride from the station to the race. He would pick up the odd job while he was here to pay ends meat and try to get the rest on start money and such. Now that's what I call tough.

Greg Reain raced in Europe the last couple years as well, and man Greg paid his dues, he suffered over here year after year to finally come home and get himself the National Jersey.

Kris Westwood, I'm told was the Original Moose. He was racing Cross in Switzerland years ago and he was there before most of the American guys and to this day still has one of the best finishes at Worlds of any Canadian in Cross.

So now it's going to be up to us to be part of the history. I hope what we do here inspires other Canadians to try to take their performance to the next level. For the sport to develop in Canada and to produce strong riders, we need those individuals to come over here for a few months every year to really get a feel for this. Coming over for two weeks is great, but two months really allows you to immerse yourself into the culture, get comfortable and find your legs.

That's what I think.

DSJ