Lees-McRae Cycling
Host Home Race
April
8th, 2006
The
Lees-McRae cycling team, in conjunction with Appalachian State, hosted
their home cycling event April 8 and 9. With the ACCC and the SECCC
combined, teams from Florida State, University of Florida, Auburn,
Georgia Tech, Cumberland University, Western Carolina, James Madison,
William and Mary, Navy, Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, North
Carolina State, Johns Hopkins, Townson University, Wake Forest,
Lynchburg College and Lenoir Rhyne all made the trip to race.
The
weekend started off with the Team Time Trial event. The bobcats entered
two men’s teams and one women’s team. It was a chance to see how the top
men and women teams were riding in preparation for college nationals
coming up in May. The answer was the teams are right on track. Both the
men’s and women’s teams took first place overall. The second men’s team
finished in second place.
Saturday afternoon brought cold rain and wind as the teams prepared for
the criterium. Downtown Banner Elk was the scene for this race. The day
started off really well with the men’s B race with Preston Anderson
taking the win and Wentworth Knipe finishing in fourth. The Ladies were
next with Monique Hein taking the win with Clara Beard finishing in
third, Kristi Henne sixth and Rebecca Conklin tenth.
The
final event was the featured race with the top A riders from all of the
schools. It was a great opportunity for the bobcats to show the strength
and depth of their team. Brent Bookwalter pulled away early to control
the race and ride away with the victory. The SECCC showed why they are
one of the strongest conferences in the country with Jason Chatham from
Cumberland coming in at third followed by a number of bobcats. Ed
Burress came in fourth, Wes Shirey in fifth, Danny Marquardt in sixth,
Scott Jackson in seventh and Luke Winger in tenth.
Sunday brought a cold morning, but sunny skies as the teams lined up for
the start of what would be a hard brutal road race. With a lap of 10
miles with 1500 feet of climbing per lap the true award would be to just
finish the race. The top A riders had six laps to ride, the A women and
B men four laps and the C men and B women 2 laps. With 30 % of the
riders not able to complete the race the fields quickly dwindled down to
small packs and individual riders around the course.
In
the men’s A race Luke Winger and Scott Saxton, from Lees-McRae, attacked
from the gun. They built a big lead on the first climb and descent but
with Peter Fairbanks from Cumberland deciding to chase, then Brent
Bookwalter and Robert Jameson from Lees-McRae had to follow with him.
Soon it was just Brent, Robert and Peter riding away from the rest of
the field. Four laps into the race a small group of Bobcats chased down
the leaders and were able to place Scott Jackson up with Brent and
Peter. Robert eventually faded back after doing a great job of helping
out and working at the front.
It
came down to a small group of four with Brent, Scott, Peter and Mark
Carlton from Lynchburg College. After Peter attacked hard on the last
climb Brent was able to pull him back in and out sprint him at the
finish for the sweep of the races for the weekend. Scott Jackson came in
at third and Scott Stewart rode very well for fifth place. It was the
second straight weekend that the Bobcats won all three A men events.
The
team is really coming together and riding very strong. With conference
finals in two weeks at Auburn and Road nationals three weeks after that,
the team is looking forward to defending their Team Time Trial national
title and improving on their second place team finish at last years
collegiate road nationals.
Thanks go out to everyone involved in helping to make this race such a
success. Especially to the City of Banner Elk, the police department and
Bill Cook the town manager did an outstanding job of helping to control
traffic and make the Criterium course safe for everyone.
Thanks to Carl Griewisch for his wonderful DJ work as well as being
another nurse on hand during the weekend. The Banner Elk fire department
for being on call and helping with the injuries that occurred both
Saturday and Sunday. Thanks to the people of Banner Elk for allowing us
to stage a great home race and the inconvenience it might have caused
while the race was going on.
And
thanks to everyone else I might have missed that helped out from the
faculty to the students of Lees-McRae for all they did.
I
would also like to thank my wife for the patience that was needed to
tolerate me for the week before and the long two days of racing.
The
Lees-McRae cycling team is proud to be a part of this community and will
continue to do our best to represent Lees-McRae and Banner Elk
everywhere we travel to race.
