Hello everyone,

 

We has several riders and alumni racing for the cyclocross national championships this weekend in Providence, RI.

 

First off was Danielle Haulman. She raced the junior women's race. From the start she rocketed off the line and was never seam again. She won the race by 1:30 over second place. One race, one win.

 

Next up was Arielle Filiberti. because of the UCI rules, she had to race the women's U23 race even though she is only 18. Also in here field were the collegiate women. From the gun, Arielle and one rider from Colorado blasted off the front and like the race before hers, was never seen again. Arielle washed out in a corner and crashed forcing here to chase the other racer for two laps before regaining contact. As soon as she made contact, the other girl attacked with all she was worth and got a gap that hovered around 8 seconds. She held off Arielle's charge to win the race by that amount while Arielle held on for second, 24 seconds ahead of third place. By the way, Arielle was just informed that the has gained early admission to Dartmouth College in the fall. The Dartmouth team at the race were seen doing what looked like a rain dance thanking the gods that Arielle will be joining them in the collegiate ranks with them next season.

 

Next up was the junior men's race. We had only one entry having lost the race favorite, Alex Coelho, to knee surgery a week ago. Nick Bax was not seen as a threat to win since he had spent the fall racing cross country for his high school team and it was fairly well known that Nick lacked the technical prowess of the elite cross juniors. Nick had to start on the last row since he had no UCI points. Since start position is so important, Nick was not given any chance for the win by the announcers. Nick raced the best, most composed cross race I have ever seen him race. He used the power sections to pick off the nations elite juniors one by one. He made it up to fourth place before time ran out. Nick's race was good enough that the national cyclocross coach asked me if Nick would be interested in going to the world championships.

 

The next race for us, or at least one of our alumni was the U23 men's race. This is usually one of the most hotly contested races of the championships. Jesse Anthony, a three year member of our team, crushed the field. I think there was only one rider who ever lead any portion of the race. By the third turn Jesse was away with one rider who succumbed to his pace and fell off the lead group eventually finishing fourth. Jesse rode perfectly and won his seventh national championship.

 

Last up for the alumni team was the elite men's race. Jonathan Page, although a three time elite national champion, was not given much hope of success since he was recovering from what he was told was a season ending crash and shoulder surgery. Because Jonathan had not raced any of the UCI races this season, he had to start  in the middle of the one hundred thirty-three man field. By the third turn Jonathan was up to thirteenth. By the end of the first lap he was in second place leading the chase to the eventual winner Ryan Trebon. Jonathan did the bulk of the work in the second group but was dogged by Trebon's team mate who disrupted the chase effort. Jonathan won the sprint for second, much to the surprise of all in attendance.

 

I am happy with how we rode as a team. Everyone stepped up and rode great races. They can all hold their heads up high knowing they did the best they could on that day.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Toby