After a three year pandemic pause, in the blink of an eye three riders sprinted across the finish line at the newly renamed Okanagan Gran Fondo in beautiful British Columbia, Canada on Sunday 10 July, with Vancouver resident Jeffrey Warner the fastest and the victor.

Just two seconds separated the top three riders in the 153 kilometers long amateur race that was last run in 2019 as the Axel Merckx Gran Fondo. Werner’s ride time was 3:49:09, followed by Manuel Fehlmann in second place at 3:49.10 and Alexander Timmer in third at 3:49.11.

In the women’s grandfondo, it was Esia Davill of North Vancouver that finished first in 4:10:15, eight seconds ahead of Elliot Kulach at 4:10:28 and just over three minutes up on Megan O’Boyle at 4:13.35.

There were 1572 riders in the 153 kilometer gran fondo race with another 1500 riders participating in the 121 kilometer veloce fondo or 85 kilometer medio fondo.

In the veloce fondo James Hawkins (3:16:55) was the first man to finish and Alesha Miller (3:20:38) was the top woman and finished fourth overall.

Local 60+ year-old rider Jacek Synoradzki was first in the medio fondo (2:27:58) and the women’s winner was Lori McLaren of Victoria (2:36:31).

The 2023 Okanagan Gran Fondo is planned for Sunday 9 July in Penticton, British Columbia.

Complete Okanagan Gran Fondo results HERE.

Photos: Okanagan Gran Fondo