This update was initially posted to the CBRC mailing list. Find out more about the club at CBRC.cc.
Another day of weather more appropriate for Virginia’s Blue Ridge GO Cross brought us the finale of the USCX series on the second day of the Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross. With Daylight Savings Time ending overnight, today’s schedule shifted back an hour and started with the Junior race at 7 am. (I was most definitely still in bed.)
In the Girls 13-14, Maddy Hanna finished 2nd today, which got her into a tie for third place in the series! In the Boys 11-12, Chase O’Donnell won with five seconds over Hudson in second place. Unfortunately, the top three boys attended Virginia’s Blue Ridge GO Cross, which gave them enough margin over Chase that he couldn’t overcome and ended up fourth in the series. Additionally, Parker Ruppe finished 23rd after his appearance at Rochester. In the Girls 11-12, Abby Romelein was able to split the Cole sisters to finish second. Further back in the field, Lilly Hanna and Liddy Breslin finished 5th and 6th, and Ava Koniowka finished 9th. Abby’s second today tied her with Lilly Cole for second in the series! (The series tech guide does not cover breaking ties.) Lilly Hanna, Ava Koniowka, Liddy Breslin, and Michalea Koniowka finished 5th through 8th in the series, with Hannah Dinolfo in 11th. Jack O’Donnell continued his dominance and swept in all the races he entered in the 9-10 Boys, finishing with 300 points. Ethan Romlein came in second, 82 seconds behind Jack for second place, putting him in 5th place overall in the series with just one appearance. Emma Breslin finished second in both the Girls 9-10 race today and the series overall.
In the Women’s Cat 4/5, NYCROSS alums and UVM riders Maggie Payne and Melinda Wetzel came in 4th and 24th.
None of the watched riders raced in the Men’s Masters field today, but here is a rundown of their series standings: Lance Law finished in a 5-way tie for 97th place in the 50+, while Dave Beals finished 61st and Terry Blanchet finished 89th in the 60+.
The next race on the schedule after lunch (early enough to be brunch!) break was the UCI Juniors and Women’s Cat 3. Haylee Johnson held on for an 8th-place finish, giving her second place in the series! In the Women’s Cat 3, two CXHAIRS Devo riders took off, leaving Lilli O’Donnell chasing Annie Hines for third and fourth place. If you look at their head-to-head on Crossresults, Lilli has beaten Annie in their last five encounters coming into this weekend. Unfortunately, Lilli ended up separating from Annie after the first couple of laps, finishing about 20 seconds down, making the head-to-head score 5 to 2 after duplicating their placing from yesterday. Lilli ended up 4th in the series overall, even with the missed Virginia’s Blue Ridge GO Cross points. Claire O’Leary (nee Walling) decided to cut the zip tie on her B bike and race that, coming in 15th. Maya Healy didn’t race today but finished the series in 12th place.
GOONS! Nate Porter suffered an early (forced) mechanical taking him out of the race but making him first to the beer garden. Ryan Conley lead the remaining squad across the bell lap, finishing a lap later in 9th place. Nick Groll was the first rider to finish one lap down, finishing 10th after barely missing the cut to finish on the lead lap. Following Nick through the early finish were Jacob McCarthy (13th), Ryan O’Donnell (17th), Jack Carey (20th), and Jeff K (25th). In the overall series, Ryan Conley and Nick finished 3rd and 4th, but the riders in the first two places had earned points at Charm City. Elsewhere in the overall standings, Nate finished 29th with one more point than Jeff in 31st, Peter Dinolfo in 36th, Ryan O’Donnell in 49th, and Jack in 81 (with his only entry in the series being this weekend). Not racing this weekend, Jacob Gilson finished 20th in the series for the UCI Juniors.
That puts a wrap on my USCX-based drivel. I bet the individual(s) who have expressed annoyance with these emails won’t even read this far to hear they’re over. (Haha, they’re not! I’m going to keep going through nationals. #notsorry)
Looking ahead to next week: New England Cyclocross World Championships are coming up, and it seems like it will be wet! You should check that those Limus are mounted and ready to go! (As of when I looked at dinner, the models seemed to agree about an inch-ish of rain, but they were not so confident on arrival time, ranging from overnight Fri -> Sat to Sat daytime) The Cat 4/5 men fields have sold out on both days! YAY! CROSS IS BACK, BABY! (They didn’t sell out last year, which, I won’t lie, had me chewing my fingernails a bit.)
See everyone out there Saturday morning!