Cyclocross Series Wraps Up

Light rain started falling last Wednesday evening as cyclists warmed up for race five of the 2013 ASUFit cyclocross series held on the Angelo State University campus. By the time that the starting gun went off, much of the dusty off-road course next to Johnson Street had morphed into a muddy quagmire with slick corners and standing water in low spots.

 Racers finished the event covered in mud with big grins on their faces. The rain and mud provided classic cyclocross conditions – something that we don’t get to race in very often here in West Texas.

The event was the final race of a five race cyclocross series that had 58 cyclists competing for awards. Competitors included ASU employees and students, SAISD employees and students, military personnel from Goodfellow AFB and cyclists from the regional community.

Cyclocross is a fall/winter cycling discipline that consists of 40-60 minute fast races on a short off-road course with racers completing multiple laps during each race. 

Every lap of the cyclocross races had one or more “dismount and run” sections where racers had to dismount, pick up their bikes. and run over plank barriers or other non-ridable obstacles.

Tony Sturdivant, an ASU Alumni and  Category 1 mountain bike racer, took overall honors in the Men’s A (Expert) category with SAISD student Summer Bewick taking the top podium step in the Female A category.

Bewick races for the San Angelo high school mountain bike team and was the 2013 Junior Varsity champion in the Texas high school mountain bike league race series.

San Angelo mountain biker Kyle Olson, another ASU graduate, topped the field in the hotly contested Men’s B division with Dorthy Langdon racing to the series win in the Female B competition.

In the Men’s C category, ASU Outdoor Adventures director Ian Brown beat out a strong field of new racers to take the category win.

Ben Hoelsken pedaled to the win in the Kid’s A (ages 7-10) with Darius Pierce taking the honors in the Kids B (6 and under) competition.

In addition to the A, B, and C race categories (Expert, Intermediate, and Novice), the 2013 series also included competition in categories that included top ASU Male/Female, top SAISD Male/Female, and top Military racer.

ASU Physical Therapy student Ryan Ruh put in a strong performance to place 3rd in the Men’s A group and win Top ASU Male honors.  ASU Biology professor Amaris Guardiola topped the ladies’ field to take home the Top ASU Female award.

SAISD student Mateo Hernandez raced to a 2^nd place finish in Men’s B and the Top SAISD male award, with high school student Summer Bewick winning the Top SAISD Female category.

Both Bewick and Hernandez are up-and-coming mountain bike racers who will certainly win more races in the future.

ASU student and Air Force Reserve captain Lenny Christo raced a strong series to take Top Military honors.

The top three in each race category were as listed below and overall results are posted at angelo.edu/content/files/17466-cyclocross-series-current-results.

1st Men’s A: Tony Sturdivant  2^nd Neal Mcspeden  3^rd  Ryan Ruh

1^st Ladies’ A: Summer Bewick  2^nd Dionnie Hoelsken  3^rd  Kaylee Bewick

1^st Men's B Kyle Olson  2^nd  Jason Pierce 3^rd  Mateo Hernandez

1^st Ladies’ B: Dorthy Langdon 2^nd  Liz Rappe 3^rd  Amaris Guardiola

1^st Men’s C: Ian Brown  2^nd  Billy Bush  3^rd  Tony Wilson

1^st Kid’s A: Ben Hoelsken  2^nd  Cyrus Pierce  3^rd Shay West

1^st Kid’s B: Darius Pierce  2^nd Jacey West

Upcoming Events

Nov 9: Concho Valley Paws Hot Dog Run, roadlizards.org

Nov 16: West Texas Masochist Run, roadlizards.org

Nov 23: Turkey Trot 5k, angelo.edu/asufit

Dec 14: Run Rudolph Run, angelo.edu/asufit