Durango took a host of cyclists to the USA Cycling Cross Country Mountain Bike National Championships this weekend at Bear Creek Resort in Allentown Pa., and the local talent will come home with a few awards, too:
17 podiums.
11 Durango Devo podiums.
7 national champions.
4 Durango Devo national champions.
The fourth and final day of the national championships particularly was fruitful for the Blevins’ family: Chris Blevins was crowned national champion in the Cat. 1 15-16 Men’s Cross Country, the Junior Men’s Super D and the Cat. 1 Juniors 15-18 Short Track; Kaylee Blevins was crowned national champion in the Junior Women’s Super D.
Durangoan Teal Stetson-Lee even beat an Olympian. She beat Lea Davidson in the Pro Women’s Super D, and Fort Lewis College product Lauren Catlin finished second.
Durango DEVO coach and team manager Chad Cheeney won the Pro Men’s Super D.
India Waller finished runner-up to Kaylee Blevins’ Super D championship, and Shannon Gibson was the fifth Durangoan to win a Super D title when she finished first in the Masters’ Women category.
Durango’s three-time Olympian Todd Wells took first in the Pro Men’s Short Track, and FLC product Sarah Sturm took first in the Pro Women’s field, followed closely by Stetson-Lee in fourth place.
Catlin won the U23 Women’s Short Track, and FLC teammate Payson McElveen won the U23 Men’s Short Track.
Stephan Davoust followed Chris Blevins onto the Cat. 1 Juniors 15-18 podium in second place.
And that was just Sunday.
Durango DEVO and the Sweet Elite road trip began two weeks ago, a 40-hour road trip from Durango to Allentown that included a trip to the doctor for antibiotics to treat an ear infection, a stop at Ray’s Bike Park – a world-renowned eight-story indoor bike park in Milwaukee, Wis. – and plenty of trips to swimming pools.
Once at Bear Creek, the Durangoans started sweating – and it wasn’t from the nation-wide competition. It was 103 degrees and 90-percent humidity. The course, DEVO director Sarah Tescher said, was rocky, rooty, very technical and wet even when it is not raining.
“DEVO’s had some amazing success the past four years at Nationals,” she said. “But we are riders who love the dry, loose, high-altitude conditions; our kids ride that every day.”
“Riding rooty, wet terrain like that is very difficult. It takes a lot of practice. While I would let my back wheel float in loose terrain, one slip of a back wheel in rooty terrain can spell disaster.”
Case and point: Waller took a black eye because of her encounter with a root, and collegiate champion and former national champion Howard Grotts dislocated his shoulder on the terrain.
There was success, too.
Kaila Hart finished second in the U23 cross country, and Kaylee Blevins finished second in the Cat. 1 17-18 division. Waller finished fifth behind Blevins, and Emily Schaldach flatted and came in 14th.
Davoust finished sixth in the Cat. 1 17-18 Male and Levi Kurlander 29th.
Keenan Desplanques finished 13th in the Cat. 2 15-18 Male and Keiran Eagen 20th.
Sierra Trout finished fifth in the Cat. 2 15-18 Female and Robin Austin seventh.
Katja Freeburn, in her Nationals’ debut, finished third in the Junior 13-14 Female, while Camryn Sippy finished fifth.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
