The third weekend of the NorthWest Collegiate Cycling Conference sent us down to Bellingham for the Western Washington University Omnium on March 23-24.
The men set off on Saturday morning for the road race and thankfully there was no snow this year! In mens C Alan Ehrenholz and Cam Harris pulled off a strong finish for 4th and 5th respectively with Zach Rholand right behind in 8th. Taylor finished an impressive 13th and Sam Freeman, Song Panvichean and Kevin Wong worked together to finish 15th, 16th and 17th. AO Chio was close behind in 19th.
In mens B Declan Kelly was able to create an impressive break early on and maintain it to come in 2nd. Wiley won the sprint of the second group to come in 4th and Zack Michaels and Stefan Gronsdahl worked together to come 8th and 9th.
In mens A Damian Parlee persevered through a grueling race to come in 4th.
In the afternoon in the women’s races we had Fiona Majendie and Lauren Eggenberger in the Women’s B race coming 2nd and 3rd and we had Melissa Bernstein in the Women’s C race coming in 3rd.
The sun came out once again for the team time trial in which UBC swept the podium coming first in the Men’s A, Men’s B, Men’s C and Women’s B categories!
Sunday was another early morning as we drove from Vancouver to downtown Bellingham for the criterium. The day started with the Women’s B race in which Lauren came 3rd. Next up in the women’s C race we had May Constabel and Melissa who pulled off a beautiful race to come 1st and 2nd.
In the mens C race we had a great showing from UBC athletes with Matthew Anthony who pulled off 1st followed by Zach in 7th and Alan, Sam, Kevin and Taylor coming in 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th. Song was close behind in 18th and AO came in 23rd.
In the mens B race after some confusion as to when the finish was Declan and Wiley were able to outsprint the pack to come 1st and 2nd. Zack and Stefan also had great races and finished 7th and 12th.
In the mens A race Damian sprinted for three prime wins and came in fourth overall.
The Whitman college race weekend kicked off following a trip down through torrential rain and strong winds (nearly lost a bike and got hit by a tumbleweed while repositioning it). The morning of the road race the skies were clear, right up until the start of the Men’s C and Women’s B and C races. So unfortunately Zach Rohland, Boris Trinajstic, Alan Ehrenholz, Kevin Wong, Fiona Majendie and Emily Butts all started out in rainy conditions.
In the Men’s C’s, a high speed first lap split the pack, with Alan and Boris in the lead group and Kevin and Zach in the chase groups behind them. By the end, Alan and Boris finished 6th and 7th respectively in the final sprint. Zach and Kevin came in close behind in 12th and 13th.
Due to the low number of women at the race the Women’s C and B field were combined, and Fiona managed to stay in the lead pack, finishing second in Women’s B the sprint. Emily put on a great performance, finishing her first ever bike race in 5th in the Women’s C field.
Zack and Damian set off an hour later with clear skies in the Mens B and A fields for a fast first few laps. Unfortunately two laps in the blasting headwinds, thunder, lightning and hail forced the officials to cancel the races.
The sun came out again for the team time trials though, where UBC finished first in the Men’s A, Men’s C and Women’s B fields!
On Sunday the crit races started off with the Mens C race. The course was an interesting six corner loop in the middle of the Whitman university campus. Fortunately for our racers, the rain held off throughout the day.
In the Men’s C race Zach and Alan worked together to earn several prime points, with Zach also winning one of the first three primes and earning himself an Onion. They managed to stay in the lead group, with Zach finishing 4th in the sprint and Alan finishing in 12th after his leadout. Kevin came in not far behind in 15th.
In the Women’s C race, Emily successfully finished her first crit race earning her a respectable 5th place.
In Women’s B, Fiona bridged the gap up to a rider off the front, and finished second a significant distance ahead of the rest of the group.
In Men’s B, Zack worked hard to stick with the lead group, coming in 4th overall.
Finally in Men’s A Damian unfortunately got a flat, but got it fixed and rejoined the group to finish in 5th.
Following the weekend UBC is still leading the conference in overall points!