Friday, July 5, 2013

Wells, Decker, Mata to challenge in USA marathon

National race is Saturday at Sun Valley


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

    Reigning USA Cycling marathon mountain bike national champions Todd Wells, 37, of Durango, Co. and Monique “Pua” Mata, 33, of Yucaipa, Ca. are registered for Saturday’s showcase event of the 10-day Ride Sun Valley Bike Festival.
    Close to 300 mountain bikers have signed up for the USA Cycling Marathon Mountain Bike Championships Saturday, July 6 in Sun Valley. They’ll race for the USA Cycling Stars-and-Stripes jerseys emblematic of national champions.
    Signed up as of Tuesday were 282 racers in 10 men’s classes and eight women’s classes including 24 men and seven women from the Wood River Valley. Among the locals is reigning national marathon Men’s Senior 70-plus king Andy Andrews of Hailey.
    Three-time Olympian Wells of the Specialized Factory Team was a 35-second winner over Carl Decker, 38, of Bend, Ore. in last year’s Pro Men’s marathon, at Bend. Wells is familiar with Sun Valley, having won the USA short-track national title here last July.
    Giant Bicycles pro Decker has placed second in two straight national marathon finals and is coming off his Sun Valley Super Enduro stage race victory Sunday on Baldy.
    Another challenger will be seven-year pro Alexander Grant, 33, from Vermont and Salt Lake City, Utah. Sho-Air/Cannondale racer Grant has placed sixth and fifth in the last two national marathons. He made the podium in the 2011 Leadville 100 endurance race.
    The Pro Women’s race should be a coronation for ShoAir/Cannondale racer Mata. She won by nine minutes at Bend in both 2012 and 2011. Also registered is Serena Gordon, 34, of Bend. She placed fourth 26 minutes off Mata’s pace last September.
    Leading locals on the start list include Sam Young and former Ketchum rider Cody Peterson of Bend in Pro Men’s. There is a strong Mud Honeys women’s group featuring Sara Schroeder, Jena Greaser, Brett Stevenson, Kim Taylor, Megan Stevenson and 2011 Masters 50-plus queen Muffy Ritz.
    Other locals include Karin Lindholm, Timothy Harmon, Terry Duran, Steve Butler, Lance Levy, Cameron Lloyd, Taylor Benz, Ryan O’Hara, John Reuter, Roger Mankus, Kris Thoreson, Kyle Rafford, Joel Brazil, Tony Buoncristiani, Mark Gilbreath, Jeffrey Roth, Christopher Pic, Brad Mitchell, Joshua Wells, Jedd Young, Adam Greene, Mark Lovlien and Brad Walker.
    Sun Valley Super Enduro women’s champion Lisa Curry, 32, of Bozeman, Mt. will challenge in the Singlespeed class.
    Marathon competitors will compete on a 45-mile two-lap course with 4,000 feet of climbing and about 85% single track. The course is a modified version of last year’s National Cross Country amateur championships at Sun Valley.
The national races start at Ketchum Town Square and finish at River Run.
Leaving downtown, and after circling trails in the River Run area, the cyclists head down the Wood River bike path to the Cold Springs trail. They’ll climb the Warm Springs trail/Warm Springs traverse/River Run Trail, and then do it once more. Pro/Open Men and Women start right at 8 a.m. and will race for $1,000 in prize money. Age classes will follow, leaving through 9 a.m.
    This is the first time Sun Valley has hosted the Marathon Mountain Bike nationals, after the resort staged USA Cycling Cross-Country Mountain Bike Nationals in 2011 and 2012. Last year’s Marathon nationals held in September at Wanoga Sno Park in Bend, Ore. had 202 finishers. Bend also hosted the marathon in 2011. In 2009-10, it was held on the Fourth of July at Breckenridge, Co.
    Also running Saturday is the Sun Valley Bald Juan Cross Country 22.5-mile race. Bald Juan bikers start out in downtown Ketchum at 9 a.m. and complete one circumnavigation of Baldy. It is one lap of the marathon course distance.




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