Young guns stormed the podium Saturday in Dolores in what is usually an event filled with veteran talent.
Riley Amos and Ruth Holcomb, a pair of Bear Development Team riders from Durango, claimed victories at the Dolores Mountain Bike Race. The 50-mile endurance race had a field of 30 athletes sent off in waves to support social distancing and public health guidelines related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amos claimed the men’s race. The 18-year-old soon-to-be Fort Lewis College athlete finished in 3 hours, 8 minutes, 9 seconds for a comfortable win. Durango 16-year-old Colby Simmons placed second in 3:10:21. Robbie Green, an 18-year-old from Evergreen, placed third in 3:15:14.
Amos set a new course record with the win. He battled much of the day with Simmons and his coach Todd Wells, a three-time mountain bike Olympian of Durango who went on to finish seventh in 3:35:02. Amos averaged better than 15 mph for the race.
Holcomb, 17, was the fastest woman in the 50-mile race. The Durango High School senior finished in 3:54:56. Durango’s Jennifer Gersbach, 40, was second in 3:55:49. Ashley Carelock of Dolores was third. The 38-year-old finished in 4:11:40.
Holcomb raced the entire day not knowing where she stood against the other women, as she went off in a wave filled with men.
“It was awesome to be out on the race course again,” she said. “I’d never done a race that long before, and starting in a wave being the only girl, I had no idea where the other ladies were, so it was a race against myself. The course was fast and flowy and ended up being a fast 50 miles.”
Also in the 50-mile race, 20-year-old Jake Yackle placed fourth in 3:19:51, while his younger brother, Nye, placed ninth in 3:31:40. The Yackle brothers now call Carson City, Nevada, home, but they grew up racing in Cortez.
Incoming FLC freshman Kye Cordes was sixth in 3:21:23.
Katarina Marks was fifth in the women’s race. The 27-year-old from Durango finished in 5:06:03. Denver’s Staci Striegnitz was in front of her in fourth in 4:56:29.
Durango’s Ivan Sippy, 16, won the 33-mile edition of the race in 2:09:54. That put him in front of Farmington’s William Farmer, 22, who finished in 2:20:18.
Maggie Holcomb, 15, won the women’s 33-miler in 2:31:46. She was followed closely by Durango’s Bailey Cioppa, 16, who finished in 2:33:09.
The 18-mile race was won by Pagosa Springs’ Brae Begdolt. The 17-year-old finished in 1:09:16. Cortez’s Max Johnson, 15, was third in 1:16:51. Laurie Brandt, 58, of Montrose was the first woman to the line in the 18-mile race. She finished in 1:22:57.
Ethan Bergdolt, 15, won the boys beginner 13-mile race in 58:07. Pagosa Springs’ Karmen McEachern was first in the girls 13-mile in 1:08:06. Dolores’ Evie Eversole placed second in 1:09:18.
For Amos, the best part of the weekend was riding trails back to Durango from Dolores the day after the race with Cordes, Day, Holcomb, and Sippy. The crew conquered 84 miles with 9,400 feet of climbing in under eight hours.
“This awesome crew pedaled, hiked and ate our way over many mountains all the way back to Durango,” Amos said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
