Our first race weekend of the collegiate season saw us driving down to Corvallis, OR for the Randall Fox Beaver Omnium hosted by OSU on March 9-10.
We had nine riders competing in all events. Zack Michaels and Stefan Gronsdahl broke off the front of the Men’s C to finish 1st and 2nd, with Alan Ehrenholz and Taylor Navi chasing them down to finish 9th and and 18th. May Constabel and Nancy Wang represented UBC in Women’s C, with May in the break finishing 2nd and Nancy close behind in 5th.In Men’s B, Declan Kelly and Wiley Melton launched a chase to finish 4th and 5th. Damian Parlee finished 5th after a brutal Men’s A race – chicken noodle soup was key in the quick recovery before the team time trial.
In a sunny TTT, the Men’s B, C and Women’s C, UBC raced against the clock to finish in 1st place. In the Men’s A, UBC finished one second behind 1st place.
A chilly Sunday morning had us all set to get racing and get warm. May finished a very close 2nd in the Women’s C and Nancy sprinted with the group to place 5th. In Men’s C, Zack put on an amazing performance, winning every prime as he lapped the field with Stefan, Alan, and Taylor on pack control. Stefan won the sprint for 2nd, with Taylor and Alan finishing 15th and 18th, respectively. In Men’s B, freshman Wiley sprinted to take a clean 1st place finish after a very consistent race, with Declan coming in 7th after some incredible efforts during the race. Damian, our only Men’s A rider, sprinted for 4th place in the pack with 2 riders off the front.
Our second race weekend of the Northwest Collegiate Cycling Conference had us traveling down to Seattle for the University of Washington Omnium on March 16-17.
Saturday started out with the Road Race, the winter weather finally broke and the sun showed itself for the majority of the races! In the Men’s C road race we had 6 athletes competing. Unfortunately, Boris Trinajstic suffered a tough crash 100m from the finish but was able to secure 6th place. Alan was right behind in 7th place and Cam Harris came in 9th. We also had Sam Freeman, Giacomo Macchi and Kevin Wong coming in 13th, 14th, and 16th respectively. In the Women’s C road race, May finished in 1st and in the Women’s B road race Fiona Majendi created a break to come in 1st with Lauren Eggenberger close behind in 3rd. Declan, Zack, Stefan and Wiley represented UBC in the Men’s B road race and controlled the pack for most of the race. In the final sprint, Declan came in 3rd, Zack in 5th, Wiley right behind in 6th and Stefan in 10th. In the Mens A’s Damian hung on for a 100km+ race of attrition, finishing 4th of the remaining five riders!
The shortsleeve weather continued into the afternoon for the TTT where UBC finished 1st in the Women’s B and Mens C categories and 2nd in the Mens A and Mens B categories.
Sunday was another lovely day perfect for racing the hilly Seward Park Crit. In the Men’s C we had Cam pulling off a strong finish to come in 9th and with Alan, Giacomo, Song and Sam coming in 13th, 14th,15th and 16th. In the Women’s C May won two of the three primes, and sprinted to 2nd for the finish. In Women’s B Fiona took off the front yet again, winning most of the primes, and came in 1st with Lauren finishing with the pack in 3rd. In Men’s B Wiley raced a beautiful race and was able to pull off 2nd with Declan right behind in 3rd. Zach attempted to break away but was reeled back into the pack, finishing in 9th. Stefan lost contact with the peloton after dropping his chain with just a few laps to go, but stayed in the race and finished a respectable 14th. In Men’s A Damian pushed the pace and was able to stay with the lead group, finishing 5th in the sprint.
We are extremely proud of all of our athletes accomplishments so far this season! We are currently in first place in the Northwest Collegiate Cycling Conference by over 200 points!