FORT GORDON, Ga. -- For five days, the city of Augusta, Lake Strom Thurmond and Fort Gordon, played host to USA Cycling’s 2011 National Championships. The national championships, which were held here for the very first time, saw more than 1,000 riders that represented over 35 states from sea to shining sea with ages varying from 10 to as high as 40.
The week began on Wednesday, June 22 out on Fort Gordon’s “short course”. The 6.7 mile, (nearly 11 kilometer), loop consisted of Forestry Road, Range Road and Old McDuffie Road and contained a grinding march of a climb of about 125 feet within a half of a mile towards the end of each lap. Five races consisting of varying laps were held, (two of which were boys and girls 10-12 year olds, two of which were boys and girls 13-14 year olds and the fifth was women’s 15-16 year olds).
Sean McElroy of Palmdale, Calif., and Courtney Comer of San Marcos, Calif., (San Diego Bicycle Club/ACQUA AL 2/SDBC) took top honors in the Junior 10-12 ages. Robbie Farrens of Stockton, Calif., (Rocket Sports Racing) and Skylar Schneider of West Allis, Wis., (Team TIBCO II) won in the Junior 13-14 age category. Sarah Huang of Kenosha, Wis., (Nova Cycle Sports Foundation Inc.) won in the Junior 15-16 age category.
The racing shifted to the Lake Strom Thurmond June 23, where the Time Trials were held, and then to downtown Augusta June 24 where the Criterium was held.
In the Time Trials held at Lake Strom Thurmond, which featured the backdrop of Lake Thurmond Dam, Evelyn Stevens of Dennis, Mass. (HTC-Highroad) joined 29 others Thursday registering winning times in the time trial competition and winning national championships, which highlighted a star-studded field consisting of 2008 Olympic time trial gold medalist Kristen Armstrong of Boise, Idaho (Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12) and former time trial world champion Amber Neben of Lake Forest, Calif., (HTC-Highroad).
Day three featured America’s fastest bike racers crowning criterium champions. Shelley Olds of Gilroy, Calif, (Diadora Pasta Zara), Robert Bush of Louisville, Ky., (Chipotle Development Team) and Coryn Rivera of Tustin, Calif., (Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12) took home national champion honors in the day’s most anticipated contests on the four-corner course in downtown Augusta.
Closing out the national championships Saturday and Sunday, June 25 -26, was at the Fort Gordon long course, which was renamed for purposes of this year’s event “Maj. Matthew P. Burke, M.D. Championship Course.” Burke, an orthopedic surgeon at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center, was an avid cyclist. He suffered critical head injuries and died five months later as a result of an accident, which took place October 1, 2010 while he and 14 other riders were on a ride in Beech Island, S.C.
The course is14.7 mile/nearly 23.7 kilometer loop around Range Road, (which features several climbs, one of which is almost 200 feet in less than a mile stretch.)
Men and women paracyclists in varying categories competed Saturday morning before the Junior Men 15-16 age group, the Junior Women 17-18 age group and then Men’s Under " 23.
Sunday over 400 riders competed in quite possibly the event’s most grueling day. The morning began with the Junior Men 17-18 age group competing in a 4 lap race and the day’s most anticipated and most exciting race, the Elite Women competing in a 5 lap race. The race itself came down to a photo finish. In the early stages of the 120-kilometer race, Alison Starnes-Tetrick of Mill Valley, Calif., (Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12) went on an early break with Jennifer Wheeler of Seattle, Wash., (Team TIBCO to the Top II) and Kasey Clark of Louisville, Ky., (Primal MapMyRider). The three would expand their lead to three minute with three laps remaining. Anna McLoon of Cambridge, Mass., (Missing Links Coaching & Training Systems) bridged to the lead group before those four riders were engulfed by the field. Late in the last lap, a six-rider break got away creating a sprint to the finish. Robin Farina of Charlotte, N.C. (NOW and Novartis), went on to win the final sprint to the finish and record a winning time of 3 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds.
The stage was set for the 7 lap meeting at high noon to determine the Men’s Elite national champion. Max Korus out of Elkins Park, Pa., (Bikereg.com/Cannondale) edged out Jesse Moore from Sacramento, Calif., (California Giant Cycling) in 4 hours, 4 minutes and 8 seconds to garner the prized Stars and Stripes jersey for winning the national championship.
Korus commenting after the victory on the course and conditions, summed up the experience in two words, “Brutal” and “Unrelenting”, but all-in-all expressed deep appreciation for the event and its supporters.
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