Collegiate cycling teams from around the country will travel to Purgatory Resort this week to compete at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships beginning Thursday.
Fort Lewis College Cycling will send a squad of 24 varsity riders to compete across five events.
The national championship event signals the Durango cycling community’s ambition to further cement its mountain bike racing legacy. Although the town has hosted various cycling events before, Durango and Purgatory rose to fame in the cycling world when they hosted the first-ever UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in 1990. The mountain bike World Cup circuit came to town in 2001 and 2002, but the years since have seen only a handful of events.
Now, organizers hope to build on Durango’s legacy being home to Olympic, national and world champion athletes to host more high-profile events, and the collegiate championships are one of the first pedal strokes along that trail.
“It's harkening back to 1990 and 2001, said Dave Hagen, the technical director for the event. “This could be the beginning of big races coming back to Durango.”
Hagen also leads the Fort Lewis College Cycling Team as the program’s director, and the squad hopes to take its 25th collegiate team title on home soil. The last time the team won the collegiate mountain bike championships was in 2018 in Missoula, Montana. The current champion is Grand Junction’s Colorado Mesa University, which edged ahead of FLC in 2019. The 2020 event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so CMU has retained its 2019 title.
The neighboring Western Slope university remains a rival to FLC, but Hagen is confident in his team, which features both under- and upperclassmen, especially in the women’s categories. OFLC rivals in the varsity category are North Carolina’s Lees-McRae College of North Carolina and Indiana’s Marian University.
While racers have practice sessions and qualifying rounds Thursday, the bulk of the racing begins Friday. That morning, both varsity and club division women cross-country racers will set off in pursuit of the weekend’s first stars and stripes jersey. They will be followed by the men.
The cross-country course will mirror the 1990 World Championships course, a race won by Durango’s Ned Overend. Racers will climb more than 1,000 feet and travel just over 5 miles each lap on a course that peaks out at almost 10,000 feet above sea level.
“The XC course is pretty darn close to being identical to the 1990 World Championships course,” Hagen said. “They did put some switchbacks down at the bottom of Demon gully to kind of take the sting off that a little bit.”
FLC’s cross-country teams will be led by Michaela Thompson and Guy Leshem with Durango locals Ruth Holcomb and Cobe Freeburn also as strong contenders.
“It’s really exciting to race at home,” Holcomb said in a FLC press release. “Durango has always been supportive of the sport, and to be on a home course with home fans is super-special. The course has a lot of history, and it’s one of the hardest courses we’ll race this season. It has a super-steep climb and feels like a level up from the other courses we’ve been on this fall.”
Thompson has been FLC’s strongest women’s cross-country racer, most recently taking third at the CMU Rumble race at Powderhorn. Freshman Holcomb has a second-place finish at the CU Buffaloes in Snowmass race. Leshem was victorious at the Oredigger Challenge race in Granby, while Freeburn’s best result during the regular collegiate season was a fourth-place finish at the same race.
Following the cross-country race Friday will be the dual slalom event, which is similar to the alpine skiing event of the same name. Racers compete head-to-head on parallel trails that are specifically built with challenging corners, jumps and obstacles, creating some of the best spectator action of the weekend.
The Skyhawk’s top hopes in the dual slalom event are also favored in Sunday’s downhill race. Seniors Cole Fiene and Will Farmer have both won downhill events this season. On the women’s side, Fiona Dougherty has collected five first-place finishes this year. She will be backed up by Irish national champion and sophomore McKenna Merten, who has stood on the podium four times this season.
After downhill seeding rounds Saturday (where Sunday’s start order is determined), the afternoon will see the cross-country short track races. Taking place in the base area around Purgatory’s lift 1, the 0.6-mile course will make for great spectating action. The short races favor punchy racers with the anaerobic ability to produce high-power numbers.
The downhill finals on Sunday morning will be one of the most visually stunning events and will follow the World Cup course from 2001. The daring racers will blast through high-speed, grassy turns before flying down a series of drops on the Upper Catharsis ski run. The trail then travels down a series of brake-burning chutes as it travels down to the finish at the base area.
The downhill track has seen some improvements by trail building firm Singletrack Trails over the summer, and racers gave it rave reviews as one of the most challenging courses of the year after August’s Big Mountain Enduro race hosted at Purgatory.
The downhill course “is still revered in the gravity world for being steep and rowdy,” Hagen said.
FLC Cycling coach and alumnae Elle Runyan still holds the women’s downhill title from 2019.
The final event Sunday will be the team relay race, which often decides the team omnium competition. In the omnium, points are awarded during each individual race and tallied at the end to determine the championship-winning teams.
The team relay race consists of four laps on a shortened version of the cross-country course, similar to relay events seen in track and field. Each school must field at least one woman racer, and a woman must complete at least two laps of the race. The big teams, like FLC, usually field two men and two women, each completing one lap. Strategy comes into play when teams decide the order in which they start each rider.
“You see every team in full glory out there running on the trails, screaming as loud as they can for their teammates,” Hagen said. “A super-special event for sure.”
There is also an individual omnium competition, where individual riders are awarded points in each race they compete in, but that’s not an explicit focus for FLC this year, Hagen said.
Purgatory Resort, which has expanded its mountain bike trail offerings in recent years, is looking forward to showcasing the mountain’s network of challenging trails.
“Purgatory is excited to welcome the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships back to Durango," said Dave Rathbun, general manager for Purgatory Resort, in a press release. “We are fortunate to have some of the best riding in North America to attract one of America’s premier cycling events to Purgatory. We look forward to bringing more events like this to the Durango area.”
USA Cycling, the national governing body for competitive cycling, is relieved to see the event go ahead after two previous attempts to host in the Durnago area.
“USA Cycling is excited to host Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals in historic Durango, Colorado,” Justin Evans, USA Cycling’s Collegiate and Youth Programs manager said. “After two previous attempts were canceled, 2019 due to forest fires and 2020 because of COVID, we are excited that the third time will be the charm! Durango will host the best collegiate mountain bike athletes and we are set for a fantastic few days of racing.”
FLC Cycling not only wrapped up its regular season this fall, but the team also played host to area cyclists in its annual Durango Fall Blaze fundraiser ride and event. According to Hagen, the event raised about $50,000 in net profits, 100% of which supports the cycling program in the form of athlete scholarships and helps with operating costs for the team of more than 100 varsity and club participants.
The national championships will coincide with FLC’s homecoming weekend, which will have soccer and football games on campus as well. Race organizers and FLC hope students, alumni, and fans from the community can make it to Purgatory to cheer on the cyclists as well as the games on campus.
Volunteers are also needed for the bike races throughout the weekend. Interested volunteers can sign up for a time slot at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0a44aea628a2ff2-collegiate
Thursday
3 p.m. Dual slalom qualifying, all divisions.
Friday
8 a.m. Cross-country female varsity.
8:10 a.m. Cross-country female club.
10:30 a.m. Cross-country male varsity.
10:40 a.m. Cross-country male club.
4:30 p.m. Dual slalom final, all divisions.
Saturday
9:45 a.m. Downhill seeding, male club. Other divisions to follow.
1 p.m. Short track male club.
1:45 p.m. Short track male varsity.
2:30 p.m. Short track female club.
3:15 p.m. Short track female varsity.
10:30 a.m. Downhill finals, female club. All divisions to follow.
2 p.m. Team relay club.
2:45 p.m. Team relay, varsity. Final awards to follow.
