The first-ever USA Cycling Gravel National Championships kicked off on Saturday in Gering, Nebraska. With the opportunity to earn thousands of dollars in prize money, the elite fields were loaded with some top gravel talent.
“It has a certain excitement about it, for sure,” said Payson McElveen of Durango. “It’s been a little while since I raced a national championship. I’ve been lucky enough to know how it can change your career if you win one. It’s been a few years since I did one, but I definitely had that little extra level of butterflies this morning knowing what was on the line.”
McElveen (Allied Cycle Works) ended up finishing fourth in the elite men’s race, which started the racing on Saturday.
After a neutral start through town, Keegan Swenson, Peter Stetina and other top riders had plenty of time to settle in. Approximately 30 miles into the race, a crash took a handful of riders out of contention. From that point on, it was a race of attrition. Shortly after the crash, and before the race was past the second aid station, Stetina suffered a race-ending mechanical, forcing him to withdraw from the already reduced field. The course conditions were challenging, but made for an exciting day. “It was a tough course,” Swenson said. “It was windy, and the dirt was really soft and loose. It was a strange surface all day.”
A group of nine riders pulled away from the rest of the pack at 60 miles, including Swenson and McElveen.
At approximately 100 miles in, the group was still eight strong. Over the next 10 miles or so, it dwindled down to Swenson, Alexey Vermeulen, Brennan Wertz, and McElveen. Swenson then attacked again at mile 126.
“We went hard on the climb, with four of us reaching the top together,” Vermulen said. “I told myself not to underestimate Keegan (Swenson), and once again, he snuck through the inside, and we never saw him again until the finish line.”
Swenson became then first-ever Elite Men’s Gravel National Champion with a time of 6:00:24. Vermeulen, Wertz, and McElveen sprinted in for second, third and fourth, respectively, finishing together 19 seconds after Swenson. Durangoan Cobe Freeburn finished 24th in 6:39:13.
The elite women’s race started 15 minutes after the men’s race with a similar neutral start format. The pace rapidly picked up as soon as riders hit the gravel. While the group stayed together at the beginning, it quickly changed heading into the hills. A four-rider group consisting of Lauren Stephens, Alexis Skarda of Grand Junction, Crystal Anthony and Jenna Rinehart sped away together as they approached the halfway point of the 131-mile race.
Skarda and Stephens then separated. After having issues with a slow leak, Stephens had to keep stopping to refill it with air, but Skarda chose to pull to the side to wait, knowing it was better to work together than be stuck in the wind alone.
“I knew it might be to my benefit because I didn’t know how close the other girls were behind,” Skarda said. “So, I didn’t want to be alone in the wind. I knew there was something wrong with her tire, so when we got to that last climb I was like ‘well I’m going to attack her, and see if I can hold it,’ I didn’t quite have that edge for a good attack and she was able to hang on my wheel and then she counter attacked. I was too tired to respond at that point and she just slowly rode away from me.”
Stephens won in 6:45:33, followed by Skarda, Anthony, Lauren De Crescenzo and Rinehart in fifth.
Durango Devo racers and sisters Anna and Leah Morozowich tackled the inaugural Junior 25-mile gravel course with nearly 1,000-feet of elevation gain. Anna won the Junior Women’s 11-12 category and Leah placed second in the Junior Women’s 13-14 race. The junior races had a series of punchy climbs in the last five miles and then finished on a one-mile flat section of road. Anna went clear on the final climb, but with the pack chasing hard she had to dig deep to finish with a 10-second winning margin.
Jacob Huber also won silver in 88-mile amateur men’s 17-18 race while fellow Fort Lewis College cycling teammate, and new transplant from Bend, Oregon, Ian Brown, finished third.
With 544 participants from over 42 states represented, the inaugural USA Cycling Gravel National Championships saw riders from Florida to Alaska take on the challenging courses in Gering to earn their Stars-and-Stripes. The 2024 championships will also take place in Gering.
