A home-course advantage for the Disera brothers at XCO nationals, mostly
You might think that for Peter Disera, who won a third-consecutive elite cross country national championship title this past July, winning the maple-leaf jersey might start to feel routine. This year’s win, though, stands out. He was able to share the victory celebration with his brother, Quinton Disera, who had crossed the line just minutes earlier, winning the under-23 title. The 2019 Canadian xco championships were held at Hardwood Ski and Bike, in Oro-medonte, Ont. The venue hosted mountain bike events for the 2015 Pan Am Games. It’s also where both Disera brothers learned to ride mountain bikes. “It was super nice to have it at Hardwood Ski and Bike in front of all our family and friends who were able to make it out today,” Quinton said of the hometown win. Peter’s elite race and Quinton’s under-23 event were on-course at the same time, with a two-minute staggered start between the categories. Within the span of 90 minutes, the brothers had won two national championships. Along with home-course advantage, the Diseras came into the race with momentum from recent international results. Peter had placed sixth in
Les Gets, France, a week earlier, his best-ever World Cup finish. “It was confidence-building,” Disera said of the result, “but it was also pressurebuilding for this event.”
If they were feeling the pressure, neither brother let it show at the finish line. Both did, however, have early minor crashes. “I didn’t actually lose any time crashing. I was down and up pretty fast,” recounted the elder Disera. “But it was enough that I was like, ‘Oh, I need to watch what’s happening.’”
“Ironically enough,” Peter said, “I crashed on Disera Drop.”— TM