   September 20, 2000 |
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FAIR
HILL CLASSIC XC
Delaware Trail Spinners |
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 David DuVall TREK East Coast Factory |
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1st
Place Overall & |
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 Katie Compton TREK East Coast Factory |
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1st
Place Pro Women
KATIE COMPTON TREK East Coast Factory |
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INTERVIEW
Fair Hill Classic XC The Trail Spinners held their breath as Hurricane Gordon threatened to rain out yet another Fair Hill 2000 race. After the July race was rained out no one wanted to see the race canceled again. It was bad enough that Rich Winkelmann's Terror of Teaberry in South Michaux and Fastrack's Neshaminy were inadvertently held the same day. All of the promoters just about had their hands tied due to the limited number of dates available to multi-use lands. The Spinners did an incredibly good job with half of their normal staff out of town since the new rain date caught everyone a little off-guard. As Sunday approached the weather turned absolutely beautiful. Sunny and 70 degrees. 330 racers turned out to compete in what has become one of the most popular races in the region. Todd Forrest designed a challenging 23 mile Pro/Expert loop with a good mix of fast and furious single track with some tough climbing and enough sections for recovery. David DuVall (TREK East Coast Factory) was competing against himself in full focus mode.... well he was only able to focus after switching his dark sunglasses for a less tinted version.... David showed that he is BACK (he is coming back after a tough bout of lower back blues) winning overall Pro/Expert men with four minutes to spare. Anyone who has had severe back pain will understand..... its a hard road to ride. After descending the punctured lung (fast downhill nearest to 273 and coming up the somewhat rocky fire road I missed a good shot of David as I realized my batteries were too low in my camera. He was about two full minutes ahead of the number 2 rider. I snapped a few more pictures and then made two more attempts in different locations to catch Mr. DuVall in action and his lead increased and would continue to until he hit the finish line. Congratulations David.... awesome performance. |
I did manage to snap a couple of pictures of the second place Johnny Guentner (FSVS) who I thought was doing great in second place and I told him so as he went by the second time. He shouted back with no strain in his voice, "Yeah, not bad since I'm on a single-speed" I couldn't believe it.... it was impressive enough to be 2nd to David DuVall on a normal bike but a single speed??? That seemed impossible. Check out Johnny's interview. Way to go Mr. Guentner! Jesse Epstein (Wooden Wheels) took first place Sport Senior. Jesse waged a battle with Matt Doyle the entire race as Matt stayed close, Jesse rode smart and calmly finishing up with a win by :30. Noreen Smith won the Sport Women Senior race hands down with a lead of six minutes! Joey Thompson kept up the family tradition by dominating the Sport Juniors. He didn't even mention that he had a flat tire that took 4 minutes to fix in his interview until we pried the information out of him. We look forward to following Joey's progress. Again, I hadn't planned on covering this race but at the last minute decided to do so. I couldn't catch a lot of beginners on the course as the Pro/Experts were running at the same time this year. My apologies until I hire some help. If any first place finishers would like to be interviewed via email... just drop me a note - bill@mountainbikeracer.com.
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Fair Hill Classic XC Those Delaware Trail Spinners put on another fabulous event with this year's Fair Hill Classic cross-country race. Postponed twice due to rainy weather, we were greeted on this day with sunny skies and cool temperatures, perfect for a fun romp through the undulating Maryland hillside. Before the race, I was so chilly that I was forced to sit on the hood of my car, in my fleece poncho, and wax philosophical about the encroaching autumn. That lasted all of about 10 minutes, though, until it was time to warm up and prepare for the task at hand?23 miles of a rolling, twisty single loop course. We're off! The juniors and masters go off along with us (expert women), and the first mile or so is a flat paved section, perfect for hopping on the "train" and drafting. Except that as usual, I can't get my right foot in my pedal, so I'm forced to chase down everyone else who is sitting in and drafting. I'm last going into the woods. At least I'm clipped in now (until I have to get off and back on again, that is). Note to self: must work on feet-related skills. I nudge by a couple of women when the singletrack starts to unwind, and a couple more of us trade positions for the next several miles. Katie Compton, meanwhile, is probably finishing up. Kidding! But she was out of sight while I was still messing around with my pedals. Way out of sight. Up and down, over and around, zipping through those FABULOUS twisties. The Drunken Sailor's Trail (my old favorite), Five Bridges (my new favorite), Dead Body Count (also a new favorite). Almost bought it between 2 really close trees--saplings, really. I must take up more space than I thought? I'm having a good ride, so I'm waving and chatting to all the friendly volunteers out on the course. I pass a few riders from the other classes and sprint for the line. What a ride! [And that burger after the race?God, I was starving, and I swear?that was the best burger I've ever had?] |
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A quick note on the Inaugural Fair Hill Kid's Race This was race director Todd's idea with Fuzzy and I taking the point on setting it up. With the rain date, Fuzzy was on the road so it was up to me. I was out of town the week before the race and with the horse event on Saturday I couldn't even set up a course until race day. Todd will tell you I was freaking that morning with cars parking on what I thought would be the course, registration logistics etc., but all for naught. The lesson learned is that it doesn't take all that much to create a situation for kids to have a great time. We put together a little course with a couple of small roots and sharp turns as the most technical challenges. The highlight was the uphill to the finish line through the stables. I can't describe how much fun it was to start the race and see these guys go for it right off the line. When they rounded the first turn and disappeared through the cedar trees all the parents were cheering and I think I had a tear in my eye. A total of 18 kids registered to race/ride. Ages ranged from 5 years old to twelve and I broke it into three groups. We didn't keep score but I noticed that in the 9-12 year old race Jeremy Thompson (in fine family form) took first with a wheelie out of the stable and over the line. I'm also proud to say my daughter Madison fought off a strong challenge to hold onto second place. Special thanks to Bike Line on Concord Pike for the donation of the awesome prizes to help make this a very successful first outing. Every kid walked away with something to remember the race. Hopefully this will be the start of a growing tradition. Greg Morrison has come back this year from a broken collarbone and even though he has not had enough time to ride.... we see that he still has enough time to volunteer his services tirelessly to the Trail Spinners and we all would like to thank ALL Trail Spinners and friends who made this race possible and continue to do so year after year! |
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