Top athletes Rebecca Rusch and Greg Martin might be running out of room in their Ketchum residence, after the pair carried home mountain bike world championship trophies from Canada last weekend, bringing their collective total to five.
Rusch has a slight edge in bragging rights, adding her third straight elite women's title, while Martin claimed his second men's single-speed crown in as many years.
For the second year in row, the annual 24 Hours of Adrenaline World Championships were held at Canmore, Alberta in Canada.
This year's race began at noon on Saturday, July 25, with riders cranking out as many laps as possible over the course of a full day on a 10-mile circuit.
"It was the same venue this year, but a totally different course," said Rusch on Wednesday, weary and glad to be back home. "This year was much more technical, with roots and rocks and very few places to spin or take your hands off the bars to eat. You couldn't even find a place to relax your brain."
The increased difficulty didn't keep Rusch, 40, from completing 18 laps, one full lap more than her nearest competitor. Rusch recorded the fastest lap times for the women during both day and night, clocking in at 1:00:40 and 1:15:31, respectively.
Martin, 37, was no slouch either, not only taking the top spot in his category, but coming in fifth overall. He completed 19 laps, despite the fact that he only had a single gear to work with during the race.
"It's always more nerve-wracking to defend the title," said Rusch, who, along with Martin, is a volunteer firefighter with the Ketchum Fire Department. "By the end, heading out for one more lap was like climbing Everest."
While the pair was lucky to avoid any mechanical problems that could easily cause the loss of a place on the podium, the race wasn't completely free of adversity.
In addition to an inconsequential minor crash, Martin was highly dismayed after the race director issued a warning, putting the two Ketchum riders on "amber alert" because he thought they were possibly colluding by riding near each other. Pacing other riders is not allowed in the race, but Martin said that it was not a concern given that he and Rusch, while often in close proximity, were usually separated by minutes.
In addition, Rusch noted that unlike road biking, in which significant aerodynamic benefits can be achieved riding close behind another rider, called drafting, this style of mountain biking is not conducive riding close together. She and Martin would have no reason to ride together, she said, as evidenced by Martin's additional lap.
"Actually, I want to thank the director for being ridiculous," said Martin, 37. "It really lit a fire under my butt."
Still, the warning did cause the pit crew, shared by Martin and Rusch, to make Rusch sit down and eat some soup in order to create some more noticeable distance between the riders.
The two were involuntarily grouped together again when a fellow racer suffered a bad crash, falling off of a bridge. Whereas other competitors waited impatiently at the bottleneck while the EMT stabilized the rider's neck in case of a spinal injury, Martin briefly switched from a racer into a Ketchum firefighter, asking for the vital statistics in order to relay the information along at the next aid station.
While his good deed was rewarded with a great race, Martin is not sure if he will go for a third world championship when the race is hosted in Australia next year.
Likewise, Rusch's racing future is uncertain at the moment as well.
"The three-peat was a big goal for me," Rusch said. "I might pick a new goal now."
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
Ketchum resident Rebecca Rusch crosses the finish line in Canmore, Canada, to seal her third straight Solo 24 Hours of Adrenaline mountain bike world championship. Fellow Ketchum volunteer firefighter Greg Martin also took home a world title, his second in a row in the single-speed division. Photo by
