San Francisco, California
December 12, 1999

     San Francisco was the site of two major cyclo-cross events this weekend, the Super Cup Series and National Championship, which culminated an exciting fall season for US cyclists. Competing in these events was a dream come true for one local athlete, Justin Thompson, who at 16 years of age rode against the best US cyclists in the 18 and under Junior category. Despite riding in a field of older and more experienced cyclists, Justin won the seven city Super Cup Series and took second place to last year's world champion, Matt Kelly, in the National Championship. His performance led to his selection to the national team that will represent the US in the World Championships in the Netherlands next month.

     Justin, who has only been involved with competitive cycling for less than three years, received national recognition this past summer with a 3rd place in Junior Road Nationals in Cincinnati and a 7th place in the NORBA National Mountain Bike Championship in Mount Snow, Vermont. His success with both road cycling and mountain biking convinced him to try his hand at cyclo-cross. He competed in his first cyclo-cross event in Massachusetts in September. From there, he competed in the Super Cup Series which took him to Boston, New York, Boulder, Chicago, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. He captured four 1st place finishes earning him the points to become the Super Cup Series winner.

     The National Championship featured a competitive field of riders including last year's Junior World Champion, Matt Kelley. For Justin, this was the day he had been dreaming about since he saw Matt Kelley's picture in cycling magazines after his win at the World Championships in Slovakia in January. "For me, this was a dream come true," Justin told the race announcer in a post race interview. "Just being able to compete with someone like Matt Kelley was an honor."

     Cyclo- Cross, a European sport, is relatively new in the US The sport is sort of a "cross" between road cycling and mountain biking. Racers compete on bikes which look similar to road bikes from a distance but an up close look reveals that they are built for both speed as well as to handle the the rugged surfaces such as grass, mud, pavement, gravel and cobblestone.The races occur on a lap course which features challenging topography such as technical uphill/downhill sections, fast straight-away sections, hair pin turns and physical barriers which force riders to dismount their bike and carry it as they run to where they can remount. All this makes cyclo-coss an exciting spectator event as well.

      For Justin, he now comes back home for some rest as he prepares for his trip to Europe in early January to join his team in preparation for the World Championship.