Despite making the move from her home-province of Ontario to Maple Bay a couple of years ago, Jenn Jackson sure does have a thing for Kentville, Nova Scotia.
For the second-straight year the Canadian championships in mountain bike cross country (XCO) and Short Track (XCC) racing were held in Kentville and for the second-straight year, Jackson has come away from the event as Canada's cross-country mountain biking champion.
Last year in Kentville, Jackson earned the XCO title and placed second in the XCC event. This year, she did one better and earned both championships outright.
"I'm so stoked to bring both titles home," said the 29-year-old following her big win.
The weather was fierce with heat and humidity on the menu but the track conditions were right in Jackson's wheelhouse. She rode to an XCO time of 1:19:30.29, more than three-and-a-half minutes ahead of the next fastest competitor. The margin of victory in the short track event was significantly smaller but she prevailed nevertheless, two seconds ahead of the runner-up.
By winning nationals, Jackson was earned the right to wear the Maple Leaf jersey in both her XCO and XCC races in the upcoming season. She did hope to wear Canada's colours in Paris this summer, but was not named to Canada's Olympic team despite being one of the country's greatest mountain biking stars. (Just one female mountain biker was named to Team Canada's cycling team.)
"Winning feels good regardless," Jackson, the 2023 Pan American Games gold-medallist, said. "It would have been amazing to carry this national title into the Olympics but I don鈥檛 check the right boxes to earn the spot."
She's not letting that distract her from her other goals, however.
"I can still be content with what I have accomplished this weekend and this season, I鈥檝e made some huge progress at the World Cup and am still consistently the top Canadian which I鈥檓 really proud of especially when I get to race in the champs jersey," she added. "Without the opportunity to race in Paris this year, I guess I have another four years to keep working on my craft and getting faster."
Up next, Jackson heads to Andorra to represent Canada at the UCI MTB World Championships in late August. Then, in September, the Liv Factory Racing team will regroup for the North American leg of the World Cup schedule.
