The top 10 of the 2024 Sea Otter Classic men’s and women’s elite fields were filled with Durango’s top off-road racers. This year was different.
Not a single Durango-based rider finished in the top 10 of the 2025 Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California, on Thursday. It was a different race from the past few years to open up the Life Time Grand Prix. This year was a longer gravel race compared to the Fuego XL mountain bike race from the past few years.
Maude Farrell, who relocated to Durango in January, finished 17th in the women’s elite race in five hours, 23 minutes and 45 seconds. Farrell said she moved to Durango because she was inspired by the Durango riders and wanted to see what’s in the water in Durango.
Haley Batten won in 5:02:45, followed by Fort Lewis College graduate Sofia Gomez Villafane second at 5:08:08 and Cecily Decker third at 5:08:22.
“I rode really well,” Farrell said. “The start was as usual, just really spicy and fast. Everyone just has so much power and willpower these days to stick with it and stay in the group … It was just an unforgiving start. I was a little nervous and felt for a moment like it was a bit hopeless. The fast start kind of cost some riders later on in the race, so it was a good reminder just to always stay fighting, even if you feel like you're off the back, like you never know what's going on in front of you.”
Farrell was a little disappointed with the changes to Sea Otter because she thinks the Fuego XL course is an all-time great course and is one of her favorites. However, Farrell thought the race organizers did a great job of making the gravel course challenging and creating a nice lap format.
Despite starting the race in the 30s, Farrell steadily worked her way through the women’s elite field across the three-lap, 88.8-mile race. She knew she didn’t want to burn too much energy too soon and knew she had really good endurance thanks to a lot of long-distance running she’d been doing. Farrell reminded herself to remain patient and a lot of things can change.
Ellen Campbell finished 32nd in the women’s elite gravel race in 5:41:29.
“It was a little bit of a rougher go of it for me,” Campbell said. “Nothing in particular went catastrophically wrong. But just overall, I had a bunch of smaller mistakes that ended up not helping me perform very well and didn't set me up for success. So I’m a little a little bummed out about that, but it's also the very first one of the season. So that is a starting point; it's a good place to go from and hopefully, the only place to go is up.”
Race promoters thought the men’s and women’s elite fields would finish the course a lot faster than they did, according to Campbell. But the course was very challenging with a lot of climbing. Campbell said there was one small section of single track but otherwise it was dirt roads and paved roads.
Some roads overlapped from the Fuego XL course but it was a gravel race, so most riders were on drop-bar gravel bikes. Campbell put some pretty wide tires on her gravel bike; she had a mountain bike tire on her front wheel.
Campbell made the mistake of not lining up at the start early enough. Sea Otter starts on the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca racetrack and bottlenecks off the racetrack and onto a dirt road. Therefore, the start is essential.
After her mistake, Campbell was in the last row to start but battled back by working really hard on the first steep climb and on the first rolling descent, which lasted about six miles.
“I'm fitter than I've ever been at this time of the year,” Campbell said. “Those mistakes got into my head. Racing at this level is obviously very much fitness-oriented, but it is also a mind game. If your brain isn't in it, then you have a really tough time using your fitness. But all the women were very impressive … I rode with a variety of girls each lap and everyone was really strong. Just seeing how people rode and the confidence was just really cool … Every time these races grow, the margins are so small now.”
Next up for Campbell will be the Whiskey Off-Road in Prescott, Arizona, from April 25-27.
Cole Paton was the top Durango-based finisher in the men’s elite field in 33rd in 4:34:07. Keegan Swenson won the men’s elite race in 4:20:25.
“I was having a good race and then I had a really nasty crash that just really took me out of contention,” Paton said. “So it was one of those races that was more about just trying to get to the finish line. It started out as a race, racing for the win, and it turned into racing to cross the finish line, which is tough. But in this sport, that's just how it goes sometimes. I’m definitely am going to try to finish no matter what. Looking back, I can be proud that I made it across.”
Paton was near the front of the men’s elite group and was feeling good at the beginning of the second lap around the 40-mile mark. He had dropped a bottle, so he was a little panicked about his fluid level. Paton decided to get a bottle from a volunteer in a feed zone in a fast section.
The volunteer reached out to give Paton the bottle but Paton high-sided, resulting in him crashing onto the ground and slamming his right hand and right hip.
“I can't blame a volunteer, but it was definitely not an experienced person in the feed zone and at the speed we were coming through, it was just dangerous,” Paton said.
Paton recovered and rode hard to get in contact with the lead group. Another crash occurred for him around mile 55 when he lost his grip on his handlebars. Paton was a bit shaken after that and focused on reaching the finish.
The former Fort Lewis College Skyhawk will also be racing in the Whiskey Off-Road from April 25-27.
Fellow Skyhawk Michaela Thompson finished 41st in the women’s elite race in 6:01:13. Thompson never got to the front of the pack and was high as 20th at the 15-mile split.
“I learned a lot from race day,” Thompson wrote on Instagram. “I made some significant mistakes within the race which created some doubt. I’m stubborn and wanted to be competitive at the front so I burnt all my matches first lap, and had to just roll through the remaining two laps as best I could. I’ve never felt such sensations in my body telling me nope I’m not ready! Overall I’m feeling okay about it all. I’m proud of being able to turn my mindset out of race mode and enjoy the ride.”
In the men’s race, recent FLC graduate Cobe Freeburn finished 56th in 4:47:26. Current FLC rider Isaac Allred finished 82nd in 5:01:59
It was Allred’s first time at Sea Otter and he said it was the craziest bike expo he’s seen.
“It was a pretty bad day,” Allred said. “So I knew going into this I'm not where I want to be fitness-wise. It's just been a super rough semester with school and having to work. So I've trained as much as I possibly could and felt probably as good as I could have asked for on the day. I started really well and then probably about 20 miles in, I started to get some tightness in my back, which I had to back off the gas for quite a while.”
Behind Allred was Ryan Standish in 89th in 5:05:03. Henry Nelson was 94th in 5:16:00.
Ruth Holcomb, Payson McElveen and Howard Grotts didn’t finish Sea Otter. McElveen crashed in a feed zone and couldn’t finish. He’s experiencing some hip pain.
Asa Vermette had another strong showing as he prepares for the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill season. The teenage phenomenon won the men’s elite downhill race in 1:49.81, ahead of his mentor and team owner Neko Mulally in second in 1:50.35.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
