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East Coast Nationals Windham, NY
Cross Country:
I have to say that I'm glad I don't have to race against Georgia, Catharine, and Katerina. They have become so dominant this year that no one comes close to staying with them. And they not only keep winning, but they have this habit of going 1-2-3. This week, the National Mountain Bike Series event in Windham, NY, was no exception. The course was one of the best the women have raced on this year. Lots of wide open double track climbs, with plenty of room to maneuver in the field. Lots of super fun tight twisty single track with great bridges and cool rock gardens. A few of the bridges went over muddy, marshy areas; a few of the bridges crossed over the downhill course, and there were some bridges that were just for fun. It was the kind of course that gave you a big grin and made you hoot-n- holler all the way down.
New York in the summer means heat, humidity, and bugs. Windham had all of the above, making the cross country race a hot, sticky, sweat fest. The race itself was fairly predictable. The LUNA girls rode away from everyone on the first long climb and stayed away till the finish. Georgia won, Catharine was 2nd, and Katerina was 3rd. The biggest challenge didn't come from the other riders, but instead managing the heat and trying to keep the body core temperature at a tolerable level. Short track XC:
Georgia must have decided that what little hair she had was too hot and between the end of the cross country and the start of the short track race, she shaved her head. Once again the LUNA girls dominated the race. Georgia and Katerina controlled the front, leading almost every lap. Catharine enjoyed the draft and controlled things from middle of the group. And Chloe played sweeper and made sure no one fell off the pace. She probably worked harder than anyone, riding alone in what we call "no man's land". Not quite fast enough to ride with the lead group, but faster than most of the other women behind her. So she sat in the wind working on her time trialing. Katerina won, Georgia was 2nd, Catharine was 7th and Chloe rounded out the top ten. |
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Shonny Vanlandingham Makes History in Farmington, NM; Wins Women's Triathlon, Finishes Ahead of all the Men
July 9, 2008 Colorado Springs, CO
LUNA Pro XTERRA rider Shonny Vanlandingham made history this past weekend at the 22nd Annual Grady Williams Memorial Freedom Days Triathlon in Farmington, NM. She not only won the women's triathlon, but in doing so, she beat all the men. First time in the 22 year history of the event that a woman crossed the finish line first. Her time of two hours, 24 minutes, 17 seconds was just ahead of the first male at 2:25:57.
"It's always good to get back on the road bike and feel like you're going so fast when you're used to being on the mountain bike," she explained.
On a day with modest temperatures - warm but not intolerable - and negotiable wind, some 125 athletes - approximately 19 teams and 70 individuals - invaded an unyielding course that was altered slightly this year. The 1.5K swim started on the east side of Farmington Lake - years past saw the opening leg begin on the west end - which altered the layout for the 10K run. And with the staging area and finish line shifting from Piedra Vista High School to Lions Wilderness Park, the climactic stretch of the 40K bike ride included a grueling uphill climb.
In her first full season competing in the ultra-popular XTERRA off-road triathlons, Shonny is just months into her pursuit of road-race excellence.
"I'm just kind of learning the (road) triathlon discipline," she said.
She appears to be a quick learner after giving Farmington its first female winner in 22 years of the Freedom Days event.
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Here's the final entry from 10 Degrees of Latitude's trip. I am very proud to have sponsored them. I can't wait till next year and see which continent they're going to traverse through.
http://www.10degreeslatitude.com/
 Today we completed our adventure to traverse 10 Degrees of Latitude under human power on the continent of Europe. Just 6 more continents to go.
Ride stats today
- 129 miles
- Fins to South Paris; completing 10 Degrees Latitude
- Our most gorgeous bike day yet, a suitable end to an amazing journey
- 0 sheep, 5 buguettes, 2 barets
- 2 huge smiles and cigars at the end
Our journey took us 14 days of biking and 1 day of swimming across the English Channel. This works out to be 1000 miles on bike and 25 miles in the water. It was gorgeous, stunning territory, and the good thing about traveling as we did was that we really got to enjoy the countryside, see the people and smell the smells (most were good).
We have so many people to thank. Our support crew made our adventure possible. Our bike crew (Flora and Bob), our swim crew (Tricia, Amy, Flora, Laura, Dave, Teresa, and the entire Ocean Breeze crew) and our home crew (Michelle, Andrew, Ava and Joshua) were awesome. Our Cadence Cycling coach Mike Kuehn was super supportive. Our sponsors are all amazing people. Everyone treated us so well through the entire journey.
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War: It was a long day, fill you in later.
Hubie:It was actually hard to believe that this day would come. It has been 4 months of very intense challenge. This event was the biggest and toughest to bring together and put on and actually execute. Not only physically tough for the runners but for trying to keep everything together each and everyday hammered you mentally and emotionally to the max. The run had finally made it to DC and definetly very happy to be at this point, but then again not so happy due to the amount of money we did not raise. When you put everything on the line you do your best to succeed.
DC is never easy to get around and find a place to park let alone figure out where the heck you are going. We stayed at a Hotel outside of town in Herndon Virginia which was about 40 minutes outside of DC. Why there? Hotel rooms in DC on the 4th are at a premium, plus we had the opportunity to use the Metro line to get us around town. I enjoy the subway, it is great to people watch in DC because their are so many different cultures in the Capitol. People come from all over the world to experience DC. We found our parking spot early so that went well. The tough part was coordinating the Challenged athletes to connect because of the goofy parking and logistics, we made it happen. The run started at the end of the Arlington Memorial bridge and then the group worked their way to the Iwa Jima Statue. Henry Forest, one of Tom's friends who he did the ironman with him back in 78 was released from the hospital in Atlanta to come down and participate in the last few hundred yards of the run. (Henry is battling Leukemia) We all ran it in and the TV crew was all over it. Tom and Warren touched the statue for the final end of the run. It is really hard to explain the feeling of the finish due to my earlier comments but all I knew is that it was completed and that we accomplished an incredible mission of faith for charities that we believe in. It was very, very difficult at times but we persevered and got the job done. We still have a lot of work to do for our charities though, but like anything in life nothing comes easy and the challenge continues. So now that the run ended the 4th iof July just began! We had a picnic at Post 139 in Arlington and we had a great game of horseshoes and some great eats. Their were a number of veterens from ages up to 90 years old, it was an honor to talk and joke with these guys. The Post had a flag burning ceremony. The Post collects old flags that have seen their time and you get the opportunity to burn a flag for a loved one. So I burned one for my Dad, (Who was in the 14th AirForce WWII) and both of his brothers who were also in WWII. The party continued and we headed down to the Fireworks which are launced by the Reflecting Pond in front of the Lincoln Memorial. It rained heavily for a while but they still got them off. There were millions of people everywhere. It was quite an experience, one I will never forget, but don't ask me how I felt the next morning, it had to be done.... I would like to thank my wife Sue, son Cal and daughter Maddie for supporting me through this difficult and monumentemal task being on and off the road for weeks at a time. My Mom who has always been their for me. My brothers and sisters and all of my great friends that I have known my whole life who always expressed interest and support for our Challenge. The list goes on, Tony, Allison and Rebecca Weis (Warrens Sister) for taking care of us in Phoenix, and lastly all of the fantastic folks that we have met along our route including all of the Legion Posts, VFW's, the Marine Corp. league, the Hotels, Motels, campgrounds, and Bed & Breakfast's, just to namne a few. All of your support and assistance was a very vital part of our success. We would not have been able to accomplish our Feat without you.
Thank You and may God Bless all of you,
Hubie
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Blair set the bar pretty high with his win for the Hincapie/Coca-Cola/Barkley Team 3 weeks ago at the NC State Criterium Championship, winning the Pro 1-2 Crit. We had to keep the momentum going for the NC State Road Race Championships. Mission accomplished! The team scored another 4 State Championship Titles ranging from the U23 divsion up to the Masters divisions. Reid, Chris H., Darren, and Mac all won their races and the NC State Champ jerseys. Lara Cassidy and Jeremy Conn both had great rides and came close to taking our 5th and 6th titles, scoring a close 2nd in the Womens 1-2-3, and Mens Pro 1-2 races on Sunday. Congrats to all the new Hincapie/Coca-Cola/Barkley State Champs.
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A huge pat on the back goes out to our very own Geri Mewett for the Hincapie/Coca-Cola/Barkley Team's biggest win of the season. Mewett is the new 2008 Bermuda National Champion after winning the men's pro road race this past Sunday. After a long day in the saddle and some muggy conditions, Geri was able to drop his other break partners on the final hill before the finish to solo in for his National Championship title (a feat that has become old hat for Geri).
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