Todd Wells isn’t the only Durangoan heading to South Africa.
Kaylee Blevins and Howard Grotts also will make the trip to this weekend’s UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, with Blevins competing in the junior women’s division and Grotts in the U23 men’s division.
“Durango has a rich history of global-level athletes on the mountain bike, and I think that trickles down to the younger riders,” said Wells, who again will represent the United States in an international competition. “If you have the opportunity to hang out and interact with top-level athletes, then you think, ‘If they can do that, so can I.’ And as you can see, they are doing it.”
For Grotts, the selection is just the latest accomplishment in an impressive year. He hopped on a bike for Fort Lewis College and won the USA Cycling collegiate road national championship back in May and finished seventh in the U23 men’s race at the Nove Mesto na Morave World Cup event in the Czech Republic back in May.
Neither Blevins nor Grotts could be reached for comment.
Grotts, who rides for Specialized and is a Durango DEVO alumnus, also captured a victory at the Hammer Nutrition Missoula XC at Marshall Mountain pro cross country race in Montana in June and is a two-time USA Cycling Mountain Bike Cross Country national champion, with wins coming in 2011 and 2012.
Blevins hasn’t had too shabby a season, either, while riding for the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory/Durango DEVO Sweet Elite team. She captured a national championship in the junior women’s Super D race at the USA Cycling Cross Country Mountain Bike National Championships last month in Allentown, Pa., and was a runner-up in the Cat. 1 17-18 cross country race.
Blevins also was a runner-up in the Cat. 1 16-18 girls division at the state championships this June in Colorado Springs.
Her selection, according to DEVO team manager Chad Cheeney, marks the sixth time in eight years that the DEVO program has had a rider selected for the World Championships.
“It’s great to see our small Durango town produce so many top-level athletes,” Wells said. “Success breeds success.”
rowens@durangoherald.com
