 |
Cholla Challenge -
Hurricane, April 12, 2008
The 2008 Cholla Challenge added some new singletrack to
the loop south of Hurricane. Then, to make things interesting, the race
ran around the loop in the opposite direction from previous years. The
weather was warm and sunny, but not too hot. We
had first place finishes by Joshua Peterson, Derek Ransom, Jim Jackson,
Meri Bruin, and Brian Oliver, with 2nd-place wins by Shawn Nielsen, Kyle
Jackson, Eric Ellis, and Justin Griffin. The team showed enough depth to
score big and win the race despite (quite a bit of) bad luck. Left:
The Van Wagoners get ready to rumble... |
 |
|
|
Joshua Peterson (#200) jumps out to an
early
lead and grabs the 1st place finish! |
Shawn
Nielsen chases behind Joshua,
finishing 1 second behind for 2nd place.
|
Mandy Clark races to 2nd place among
the girls, 12th in the 9-and-under.
|
 |
Left: Brayden Nielsen turns the
corner and
climbs the hill on the way to 6th place in the
10-12 category.
We've got some great competitors in the
10-12 and 9-and-under categories. We're excited to see our young riders
get faster and stronger.
Right: Zachary Peterson
sprints up the hill
toward the finish line, taking the 10th place spot. |
|
 |
Left: Kyle Jackson powers up
to the finish
line as he takes 2nd place in his category.
Kyle now has a 1st and a 2nd place in two
races, nailing plenty of points for the team. |
Home base. Gatorade and bike fixing.
|
 |
Left: Eric Ellis rockets across
the desert in his
first UMB team appearance. Eric grabbed the
2nd-place finish in his category with a solid
performance.
Right: Andrew Youngkin
climbs toward the finish
line as he again takes a 4th-place ribbon.
Andrew has bounced back faster and leaner
after his injury at the Rampage. |
|
 |
Left: Derek Ransom navigates
through the
slickrock section, on his way to a solid 1st
place in his first outing as a UMB team member.
Derek rolled over the finish line
7 minutes ahead
of the 2nd place guy, so we'll be watching
his career with great anticipation.Right:
Jeff Frederick wheelies up onto
a rock ledge as he fights to the 4th-place spot.
Jeff is getting faster and moving up the ranks.
Four sweet team points from Jeff... |
|
 |
Left: Jim Jackson powers
through the
slickrock section on his way to 1st place.
Two big finishes in two races. And after
completing his race, Jim took the finish-line
pictures and around-the-camp photos you
see on this page. Right:
Jason Sparks
takes the 5th-place
spot in this race. He's got that "heart of a lion"
look in his eyes when he races. |
|
 |
Left: Russ Margetts climbs up the
rock
on the way to a 7th-place finish. Russ is
getting faster and breaking into that critical
top-7 where the team points come.Right: Scott Hunsaker
pedals through the desert
scrub and gets the 9th position in the
Beginner Men 40-plus category. |
|
 |
Left: Meri Bruin sprints toward the finish
line to capture 1st place in BW. In two races,
Meri now has a two 1st places. We'd love to
see her venture away from St George for some
races up north! |
The 10-12 category fires out.
|
| Sport/Expert 13-15: |
|
Sport/Expert 16-18: |
 |
Left: Justin Griffin pilots the
bike through
the desert brush and gets the 2nd place
against the older buys in Sport/Expert 13-15.
Justin is racing "above category" because
he's sick of dominating the kids who are
his same age.
Right: Danny Van Wagoner
sprints into
the finish area on the way to taking
4th place in Sport/Expert 16-18. |
|
 |
Left: Catherine Reay moves up
to the Sport
Women category with this race and makes
an impressive ride to 4th place. New bike
and a new mean attitude. Great to have
a lady sportster again! And we know
Catherine will make us proud. |
Getting that ribbon; a job well done.
|
 |
Left: Ryan Van Wagoner
must have moved
too fast for either of our photographers, but
he's captured here testing out his bike. Ryan
got the 4th-place spot. Right:
Tyler Margetts heads up the rock
as he rides to the 8th
place finish in Sport
Men 19-29. |
|
 |
Left: Jon Hall sprints up the
final climb as he
takes the 9th-place spot in SM 30-34. Jon was
our only rider in this tough category.
Right: Like a swarm
of angry hornets, the wave
of black and yellow dominated this race. |
|
 |
|
|
Brian Oliver makes an impressive
showing
as he gets 1st place by a big margin. |
In his first race for UMB, Dan
Broadbent
takes a solid 4th place. |
Darren Harris, also new to UMB this
year, gets the 5th-place spot. |
 |
Left: Greg Meyers gets the 6th position in SM 35-39.
This was the largest category for our team, with 7
racers representing UMB. In the duel with Revolution, we divided 12 of the
top 13 spots in this category among our two teams.
Right: Stephen Bergen
follows close behind
as he nails the 7th-place spot in the category. |
|
 |
Left: Denmark
Jensen rides the slickrock on
the way to 9th-place. We have so many great
riders in the Sport 35-39 category it gives the
team enough depth to grab points even if
a couple of racers can't make it to the race,
or break down during the race.
Right:
Rich Bruin sprints hard but is knocked
to the 12th position with a flat tire. |
|
 |
|
|
Jay Griffin grabs the 5th-place spot
in this large and competitive category. |
Brad Sneed again gets the 9th
position
in Sport Men 40-plus.
|
Kris Nosack follows Brad around
the
race loop and comes in at 10th.
|
 |
Left: Mike Engberson cranks
through three
long laps as our Expert 30-39 rider, taking the
12th place spot. When we get to those ugly "ski resort" races --
the ones the rest of us hate -- that's when Mike becomes The Man.
Thanks to Jay's wife Mei-Dai for taking
most of the great racing photos you see on this page.
|
Desert singletrack, with a taste of
slickrock.
|
 |
Left: Jolene Nosack sprints up
that final hill
and takes 3rd place. Jolene is a consistent
racer, hitting around the same spot in the
ladies pecking order race after race. She's
a solid producer of team points.
Right: Kendra Clark moves to
the Women 35-plus
category and finishes the race in 7th place.
Thanks for the team point, Kendra! |
|
 |
Left: Stan Larrabee pedals
past yucca and mesquite
as he drives to the 8th place spot in Men 50-plus.
Because there's no "Beginner" or "Sport" in this open
category, they're racing against the fastest old guys
on the planet.
Right: John Van Wagoner
rides the slickrock and
follows 4 seconds behind Stan to take 9th place. |
|
Beginner Men 16-18: Expert Men
19-29: Expert Men
40-plus: Clydesdale:
Singlespeed: Men 57+
The UMB race team had no riders
in these categories at this race. |
| We had fewer racers at the Cholla Challenge
than at last month's Desert Rampage. Some are excused absenses: Deon
Hutchings broke his arm pre-riding the course, and our stalwart younger
Hutchings racers missed the race to be sure he was taken care of. Bruce
missed his first ICup event in 61 straight races due to his wife's medical
emergency, which left Matt without a ride to the race. But those who made
it to Hurricane gave it their best, and the team got some critical help
from riders making their first appearance of the season. In the team
competition, we again scored into the 90s, and again barely edging out the
strong Revolution team for the win. It was a great effort, and we can look
forward to Five Mile Pass. |
[Team Index Page] [Team
Roster 08] [Team Member Profiles]
[Team
Signup] [UtahMountainBiking Home Page]
|
