It has already been a successful week at USA Cycling Mountain Bike Nationals for Durango’s elite, and the cream of the local crop are still yet to come.
Wednesday and Thursday’s Cross-Country races saw Durangoans young and old uphold the town’s cycling reputation on the rugged yet beautiful setting at Mammoth Mountain, California.
The DEVO program started the week off right for the Durango contingent on Wednesday, the first of the five-days worth of events.
Cobe Freeburn placed 14th in the Cross-Country Men 15-18 Category 2/3 race. The Durango DEVO rider crossed in 30 minutes, 40.8 seconds. Andrew Munroe, also of Durango DEVO, took 28th in the same race with a time of 35:07.8. Rainer Barth of Boulder won the race in 21:20.9.
In Thursday’s action, Durango’s Dr. Field Blevins, father of teen star Christopher Blevins, finished 15th in the Men’s Master 55-59 division. Blevins’ time of 1:47:28.6 was 26 seconds behind the class winner Zan Treasure of Ogden, Utah.
Riders from Colorado are well-represented at Mountain Bike Nationals, and champions have already been crowned.
Denver’s Allan Marvin won the Cross-Country Men’s Master 65-69 age group with a time of 1:46:00. Littleton’s Cindi Toepel’s 2:03:58 finish in the Cross-Country Women’s Master 65-69 age group gave her a first place finish as well.
Highland Ranch’s Alana Faller won the Cross-Country Women 15-18 Category 2/3 race by almost 20 minutes.
Her dominant time of 28:18.1 was followed by second-place finish of 46:06.2 by Breckenridge’s Jazlyn Smith. Boulder’s Nicholas Konecny is the champion of the Cross-Country Men Junior 9-10 division, while another Boulder rider, Haydn Hludzinski, took the crown in the Cross-Country Women Junior 9-10.
Howard Grotts is coming off an impressive showing at the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon Championships in Nové Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, last week when he finished the 17-mile race with a 21st finish.
Grotts turns his attention to defending his 2015 Cross-Country National Championship. Last year, Grotts won the race with at 1:42:13.8, which was his first attempt at the Men’s Pro 1-2 Category.
Don’t forget about Todd Wells, however. The Durango mountain biking legend won the event in 2014 with 1:45:27, and took sixth last year with 1:46:02.4.
Younger brother, Troy Wells, will most certainly be in the mix as well. He took 19th in 2014 and 15th last year.
The Cross-Country Women’s Pro begins at 12:30 p.m. MST. with the Men’s Pro will start at 2:45 p.m.
