Four Seconds in Roanoke

Nine races had results this weekend and masters riders accounted for 787 starts across them. Two hundred of those starts were in open fields, against all comers. Roanoke was the biggest draw over the two days — 173 masters starts — but no field there was the weekend’s largest.

Michael Larson won the Cat 1/2/3 at Glenwood. The 40-year-old from Bloomington, Indiana, took the open field outside Chicago from seventeen finishers. Glenwood also ran the weekend’s two deepest masters races after Valmont: the 55+ with twenty-eight finishers, won by Marc Moeller, 57, and the 45+ with twenty-seven, won by John Kurtz, 45. Walter Stoops, 76, finished the 55+.

The 50+ at GO Cross got closer, and turned over. Saturday’s first four were inside nineteen seconds; Sunday’s first five inside twenty-seven. Brian Marchionini, 53, of Silver Spring won it in 44:21, reversing the day before: Dan Larino, 54, of Neshanic Station, New Jersey, Saturday’s winner, was second at four seconds. Scott Frederick, 53, of Raleigh was third at six, Frankie Ross, 58, of Murrysville, Pennsylvania, fourth at 20, Eric Anderson, 53, of Indianapolis fifth at 27. Nineteen of twenty-three finished, all but one on the lead lap.

The 40+ swapped its top two as well. Brent Sturlaugson, 43, of Baltimore, second on Saturday, won in 43:11. Robert Marion, 45, of Mount Airy, North Carolina, Saturday’s winner, was 13 seconds back, and Justin Jeffers, 48, also of Baltimore, crossed on the same time for third. Steven Shive, 46, of Greenwich, Connecticut, was fourth at 38 seconds; Luke Principe, 44, of Rochester, New York, sixth. On Saturday three riders finished the 40+ on the lead lap; on Sunday nine of ten did.

The 60+ came back place for place. Tom Weaver, 60, of Macedonia, Ohio, won again in 46:25, from Carl Reglar, 65, of Bethel, Connecticut, at 2:14 and Robert Dietrick, 60, of Farmington, New York, at 4:19 — Saturday’s podium in the same order. Eleven of the sixteen finishers were a lap down, as on Saturday.

Fred Wittwer won the 70+ at 76. Third on Saturday, the Nellysford rider took Sunday in 44:54, 28 seconds clear of Saturday’s winner Ron Kubala, 72, of Sagamore Hills, Ohio. Chuck Gillis, 76, was third. Kim Butler, the other 76-year-old on Saturday’s podium, did not start.

Roanoke’s women’s fields. Evie Edwards, 51, of Asheville won the 40+ on both days. The 50+ went to Denelle Grant, 52, of Richmond, 1:09 up on Saturday’s winner Amy Phillips, 54, of Chattanooga. In the 60+ Sharon Squassoni, 64, of Bethesda, third on Saturday, won by 2:13 from Darcy Ramsey Johnson, 65, of Old Greenwich, Connecticut, with Alison Weidner third. Jeff Brown won the Cat 3/4/5 masters on both days — entered as Jeffrey Brown on Saturday, from a field of sixteen, and as Jeff Brown on Sunday, from nine — the second time 1:29 clear of Vince Urichich, 57, of Delaware, Ohio.

Valmont had the weekend’s biggest masters field. Cyclo X #2 in Colorado drew 128 masters starts on Saturday, more than any single day anywhere, and its Men 55+ was the largest masters race of the weekend at twenty-nine finishers, won by Chuck Coyle from Tim Faia and Matt Davies. The three 45+ fields behind it drew twenty-two, twenty-two and twenty. The Men 65+ went to Brian Dunn, with Arthur Allen, 78, tenth and Lee Waldman, 77, eleventh of twelve.

Kilowatt Cross ran three deep masters fields. In Massachusetts the 50+ took twenty-five finishers, won by R. Michael Mckittrick, 55, of Florence from Ciaran Mangan, 55, of Natick. The 60+ had nineteen, won by Paul Vogel from Joe Johnston, 60, of Slate Hill, New York, and Michael Parent, 64, of Somers, Connecticut — with David Rustico, 71, of Plantsville fourth. Gregory Colby, 42, of Hyde Park won the 40+ from eighteen. Adam Myerson, 55, of Dorchester was seventh in the open Cat 1/2/3, and Sarah Sutton, 44, of Barrington, Rhode Island, won the combined masters women.

Oregon rewarded the doubling-up. At Heiser Farms, Bradford Smith, 44, won the Singlespeed Open from twenty-four and was second in the Cat 1/2 Masters 35+. Joseph Reynolds, 51, won the Masters 50+ and was second to Smith in that singlespeed race. Adrian Bosch, 50, won the Cat 1/2 Masters 35+ outright, Felipe Nystrom, 44, won the open Cat 1/2, and Erik Tonkin, 53, was fifth in it. Scott Trautman, 61, won the 60+ from seventeen. In the 70+ races Stephen Hemminger, 70, won the men with Tad Hodgert, 81, third, and Sue Hanna, 71, won the women from Flo Leibowitz, 76.

Wisconsin’s two-day pair asked riders to start four times. Tour de Tigerton on Saturday and Simba’s CROSSing on Sunday shared much of a field. Mark Harms, 52, made four starts across the two days and was on the podium in all four. Brian Bierman, 40, won three — the Cat 1/2/3 Elite and Cat 1/2/3 singlespeed at Tigerton, then the Masters 35+ at Simba’s. Brent Rohrs, 57, was second in Tigerton’s Cat 1/2/3 Masters 50+ and won Simba’s. Peter Tampa, 57, won Simba’s Cat 4/5 Masters 50+ from twenty-three, the biggest masters field of either Wisconsin day, with Dominic Leone, 73, sixth. Jed Kimla, 71, also started four times, twice in open Cat 4 Elite fields.

Elsewhere. Ryan Popple, 44, of Pittsburgh rode the UCI Elite Men at GO Cross on both days and was thirteenth both times, 5:14 down on Tofik Beshir on Sunday. Carla Williams, 40, was eighth then ninth in the elite women; Erin Gordon did not start Sunday. Saturday’s singlespeed winner Gordon Wadsworth, 40, did not start either, and Kerry Werner Jr. took it by more than four minutes from Grant Fanning, 42, of Richmond. At Crank Cross V in Michigan, the weekend’s smallest race, Erin Langenburg, 41, won the B Women and William Guilbert, 60, was eighth in the A Open.

The weekend in one line. Roanoke had the closest racing and the two-day repeats; Valmont had the numbers. All nine races are in the masters rankings.