It wasn’t The Rad Dirt Fest 110-mile Life Time Grand Prix gravel race many Durango riders hoped for. But Sarah Sturm had a solid 10th-place finish after missing the Chequamegon MTB Festival with a lower-body injury.
Sturm finished the 110-mile race based in Trinidad in 6 hours, 6 minutes and 29 seconds. Lauren De Crescenzo won the race in 5:41:10.
“It’s a mixed bag,” Sturm said. “For me, it was not a stellar result on the board. I really wanted to get on the podium and felt confident with that. But also with some injuries that I've been dealing with, I'm pretty pleased at the same time that my body was just able to make it through the race and I didn't have another Leadville experience. In some ways, I'm really disappointed, but in other ways, it was good sensations in the right direction. It’s not necessarily the placement that I wanted, but it's not really about that all the time.”
At 34 years old, Sturm said it takes a lot more focus and dedication to recover these days and she’s grateful she hasn’t had too many injuries in her career. She was happy to be back in the mix at Rad Dirt and said it was a fabulous race to be a part of.
Sturm started out the race strong, staying in the top group and she was in second 14.3 miles in. She stayed in the top eight until the 60-mile mark and then was around 10th place until the finish line.
“We hit river wash and it was kind of rougher terrain,” Sturm said. “My injury, the way it is, I couldn't hold the power that I needed to hold through that. I pretty much just stayed in the same place for the whole race. I didn't lose a ton of time, but I didn't gain any back on the group once I had to ease off.”
Sturm described the race layout as a lollipop with the opening part of the race being the stick of the lollipop as riders raced away from Trinidad. Then it was a loop to get back to the stick and riders raced back into Trinidad to the finish. She called Rad Dirt a climber’s race with over 10,000 feet of climbing. There aren’t any steep climbs just constant peddling on the climbs and the descents.
With one race to go in the Life Time Grand Prix, Sturm is tied-ninth in the Grand Prix standings. She doesn’t feel 100% but said most riders aren’t feeling 100% at this time in the season. Sturm is flying to Barcelona next week for a Gravel Earth race before coming back to America to race in the Life Time Grand Prix finale in Bentonville, Arkansas, for the Big Sugar Gravel on Oct. 19.
Cole Paton didn’t have his best stuff at Rad Dirt but still managed to finish 17th in the elite men’s race. Paton was dealing with a virus he’s had for over a week. He finished in 5:16:41. Keegan Swenson won the race in 5:00:01.
“In hindsight I probably should’ve sat it out, the past couple days I’ve been sick as a dog,” Paton wrote on Instagram. “I want to give a massive thanks to everyone supporting me on the good and the bad days. Looking forward to getting better soon and hopefully finishing the year off strong in Bentonville.”
Paton was as high as seventh 14 miles in before dropping to around 10th place for most of the race. In the last 30 miles, Paton dropped from 11th to 17th. He’s in fourth place in the men’s Life Time Grand Prix standings heading into Big Sugar.
Ellen Campbell made her return to the Life Time Grand Prix after missing Chequamegon to help her partner Howard Grotts recover from his serious mountain biking accident. Campbell finished 19th in the elite women’s race in 6:19:34.
“It was good to be back and get into racing and having a weekend of normal,” Campbell said. “I wasn’t sure with how I was going to feel with my brain being focused on other things the last few weeks. I felt really good. I had good legs. After the gun went off … I was kind of nervous and I made it into the first dirt section and I realized I was with the leaders which was amazing. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.”
Unfortunately for Campbell, she had a rear flat about 30 minutes into the race, which was a critical time. She found a group of girls with a solid pace and pushed the pace when she could. Campbell said she should’ve changed the tire at the aid station but she didn’t want to lose her group. This ended up costing her with about 25 miles to go when air started coming out of that fixed tire. She had to stop to assess it and then rode by herself after that.
Campbell thought she could’ve contended for the top 10 if she didn’t flat early. She said she’s generally a rider that comes from behind and she said she had good legs at the end.
Payson McElveen had a difficult weekend and didn’t finish the race. He made it to the 23.3-mile marker before retiring. He still sits second in the Life Time Grand Prix standings.
McElveen wrote on Instagram that he’s been dealing with an illness and didn’t have the best training sessions leading up to Rad Dirt. He gave it a go but didn’t have the power to follow the accelerations of the other riders.
“Even under bad circumstances a DNF always feels terrible,” McElveen wrote on Instagram. “After getting dropped twice more and sensations not showing any signs of improvement, I knew there wasn’t anything to be gained from the day, turned off course and spun home. All that said, I felt way more capable in that hour than I have in a couple of weeks, so things are going in the right direction … I’m hoping to get back up to speed in training soon, because this final round is shaping up to be really exciting and I’d love the chance to finish the year strong.”
Fort Lewis College senior Michaela Thompson also retired after passing the 43.6-mile marker. She wrote on Instagram that she was disappointed with retiring after not feeling motivated to push or chase other riders. She sits in 14th in the Grand Prix standings.
Durango rider Cody Cupp finished 27th in 5:38:11. Local rider Jack Odron retired and Durango’s Keiran Eagen also retired.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
