The Fort Lewis College Cycling team has flexed its hometown muscles in the 45th Iron Horse Bicycle Classic.
One day after recent FLC graduate and first time Iron Horse participant Payson McElveen won the group sprint to the finish line to claim Friday’s Coca-Cola Men’s Professional Road Race from Durango to Silverton, it was sophomore Cormac McGeough’s turn at the top of the podium.
McGeough outlasted a small group of 10 riders on the 4.5-mile, four lap course that started at 9th Street and Main Avenue and went up to the Fort Lewis College campus before coming back into town.
His time of 50 minutes, 9.2 seconds was good enough to win Saturday’s Morehart-Murphy Men’s Pro/Open Circuit Race by three seconds. Like McElveen, it is also McGeough’s first Iron Horse.
Boulder’s Spencer Downing finished second in 50:12.1, and Durangoan Alister Ratcliff came in third with a final time of 50:12.2.
“It was pretty erratic for awhile with a lot of attacks, and I just tried to keep it together as much as I could,” McGeough said. “I knew on the last lap I could go all out, and whoever was the first around the last corner first was going to win. That was me.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise to see the Skyhawks excel on their stomping grounds. McElveen’s thrilling road race win Saturday was followed up with a third-place finish in Sunday’s Mountain Bike Specialists Cross Country race.
The local knowledge definitely played a role in McGeough’s win.
“Each lap, I was railing the corner at the bottom of Goeglein Gulch Road,” he said. “I knew I could build a gap there.”
Downing, the second-place rider, also has Fort Lewis ties after spending his freshman year with the Skyhawks before moving back to Boulder.
“I really enjoy this event, and I love the course they’ve created in town,” Downing said. “We were all right there together, and Cormac kept picking up a gap as we came down the hill. On the last lap, the rest of us kind of looked at each other and realized that he had it.”
McGeough’s win means the Skyhawks have won two out of three men’s races after taking second place just weeks ago at USA Cycling Collegiate Road Nationals. They also dominated the Squawker Classic races back in April with wins from McElveen and Ryan Standish.
“We had a more mature team this year, but we’re saying goodbye to a lot of them, and Payson is obviously one of those,” McGeough said. “I’m one of the younger ones, so it’s been beneficial to see how they do things and carry themselves.”
McGeough is in prime position to win the overall men’s road omnium after topping his seventh-place finish in Saturday’s Coca-Cola Road Race with a win Sunday. He will try to capture the overall crown in Monday morning’s time trial.
jfries@durangoherald.com
