Event Recaps

The University of Arizona Cycling Team won the SouthWest Collegiate Cycling Conference Championship for mountain biking October 6-7 in Sonoita, Arizona. Not only did the U of A team take the podium in convincing fashion, but the entire event was organized and run under the direction of student team members and recruited support. In a developing collegiate cycling conference such as the SWCCC, it is ever important that such events continue to go off with such great organization. This event was something that other SWCCC team can, and likely will, model in the future for their own events. Evan Hyde did a fantastic job as Race Director in making the weekend a true success. 

The racing action was fast and action packed with a two-mile TT race Saturday morning followed by an afternoon Short Track. The TT featured a rugged 4×4 dirt road climb going out and a fast big-ring descent coming back to the line on the single loop course. Short Track was contested on a technically challenging course that featured several tight corners which demanded both a rider’s concentration and finesse. Fox 11 captured the full effort STXC action for the weekend sports news recap. The cross-country was contested on a long 9.25 mile course that was relentlessly undulating and rough. Racers completed either two or three laps depending upon their race category.

It was Kyle Colavito who swept all three events in the Men’s A category, taking victory in TT and also a hard fought win over Evan Hyde in the STXC. Kyle went on to win the cross country event after catching early race leader and eventual second place finisher Alex Luce.  In the Women’s A category Melanie Meyers took victory in the TT and also the XC event. Teammate Chloe Forsman came around Meyers just before the finish to win the STXC in a close sprint. Brian Meyer collected third place in men’s A TT. Other notable results achieved by University of Arizona racers in the B categories were Rob Cyrek and Jon Burin taking the top two spots in the STXC race. Kelly Clifton earned wins in both the women’s B TT and STXC.

As SouthWest Collegiate Cycling Conference champions several U of A racers will go on to compete at the Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships hosted by Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina October 26-28, 2007. Momentum Endurance will be there to support these races and encourage them along the way.

All the Best to Collegiate Cycling!

The University of Arizona Cycling Club Team took Angel Fire, New Mexico by storm this past weekend as they accumulated four podium results in the Women’s Division I field. I was pleased to attend this Collegiate National Championship event with the club and to see them perform at such outstanding levels.  Freshman, Chloe Forsman won both the Short Track Cross Country (STXC) and the Cross Country (XC) events while her senior teammate, Melanie Meyers, finished third in STXC and second in the XC event.

In Friday’s STXC competition Forsman led from the start and never looked back. She maintained a sizable 30+ second gap over the chasing duo of teammate Melanie Meyers and Heather Holmes (University of Utah). Meyers fought hard in the late stages and finished third place on the day. In Saturday morning’s XC event it was Meyers who controlled the pace from the start. Meyers would only be surpassed by her teammate Forsman late in the race.   The University of Arizona Duo claimed the top two podium spots in this, the most prestigious of all weekend competitions. The best riders from all across were country were there to compete, but could not touch these Wildcat riders.

Two Wildcats competed in the Men’s B STXC on Friday. Arthur Breme’s finished eleventh in his first ever mountain bike race while teammate Brian Meyer finished strong for twelfth following a crash that took skin from his chin and tore the sole from his cycling shoe. Both Men’s riders were exhausted, but ready for the XC event the following day. They had surely survived the Hurricane of Pain.  For the Men’s B XC competition they were joined by teammate Colby Moeller. Moeller rode strong to finish fourth, Meyer finished an impressive eleventh after snapping his seatpost early on, and Breme completed his first ever XC event in twelfth place.

On Sunday Forsman and Meyers joined their downhill (DH) teammate, Nolan Mayer, for the DH competition. All three riders took on the gnarly World Cup course that snaked its way down the mountain from high above.  The two XC women held their own in this their first ever attempts at DH racing. Forsman placed 18th and Meyers was 33rd.  Mayer competed in the Men’s B field and placed 17th despite crashing on one of the challenging sections of the course.  All three came out alive which was success enough in the opinion of many!

This was quite a showing for the University of Arizona. They plan to return in 2007 to defend their titles, bringing more racers along with them so that they can compete for the team omnium which is traditionally won by a Colorado school.  This year it was the team from Fort Lewis College of Durango, Colorado who successfully repeated as Division I Omnium champions.

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Liquid Assets

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