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McConneloug nails U.S. cross-country title
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Mary McConneloug (Seven-Kenda) took her third-career national cross-country title on Friday, outlasting defending U.S. champ Georgia Gould (Luna) and Subaru-Gary Fisher rider Willow Koerber at Mount Snow resort in West Dover, Vermont.
McConneloug took an early lead in the three-lap race and never looked back. The 36-year-old, who took the one-day national championship win in 2005 and earned the title in 2003 by finishing as the top-ranked American in the NORBA series, finished nearly 1:30 up on Gould.
“I perform better when I’m not chasing, but when I’m on my own head finding the perfect cadence and gear and just flowing it,” McConneloug said. “The mud was so soft I could just float through it, it was incredible.”
Indeed it was the wet conditions that aided McConneloug in her victory. A week of deluges transformed long sections of Mount Snow’s famed rocky singletrack into muddy bogs. Sunshine finally came out the morning of the women’s pro race, baking the loose slop into thick peanut-butter-like mud. Riders pushed their bikes up the course’s one steep, loose climb.
“It was muddy and goopy, and I probably should have run a few 10ks to get ready for this one,” said a mud-speckled Gould at the finish line. “The course was difficult to get into any kind of rhythm, and that was the problem for me rather than my strength.”
Unbeaten on American soil in 2007, Gould stayed within 10 bike lengths of McConneloug up the opening climb. But Gould could not match the Californian’s skill on the course’s steep hike-a-bike section and slippery, technical descent. Gould faded back to a surging Koerber while McConneloug — known as one of the best technical riders in the biz — opened up a minute gap.
“On a course like this it’s about who makes the least amount of mistakes,” Gould said. “I definitely had a few near misses and a few good saves. Mary made the least amount of mistakes.”
Coloradan Heather Irmiger (Subaru-Gary Fisher) chased in fourth place, nearly three minutes behind Koerber. Behind the Subaru-Gary Fisher duo, Luna’s Shonny Vanlandingham and the Trek-Volkswagen duo of Susan Haywood and Lea Davison fought for the final spot on the podium. Vanlandingham, the recently crowned marathon national champion, grabbed the fifth spot.
“This course has a lot more to do with fitness than people want to admit,” Irmiger said. “If you don’t’ have the fitness to withstand the descents you’re not going to be ready for the climbs.”
For McConneloug, the win was sweet redemption after her disappointing second-place finish at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro on July 13. It was the second Pan-Am silver for McConneloug.
“This was my focused race of the year, it’s what I wanted to do,” McConneloug said. “Getting the national championship title back was my season goal, and it feels great to be able to come here and race.”
2007 USA Cycling National Mountain Bike Championships
Pro women’s cross-country
1. Mary McConneloug, 2:06:59
2. Georgia Gould, Luna at 1:17
3. Willow Koerber, Subaru-Gary Fisher, at 3:57
4. Heather Irmiger, Subaru-Gary Fisher, at 7:41
5. Shonny Vanlandingham, Luna, at 8:15
6. Susan Haywood, Trek-Volkswagen, at 8:55
7. Lea Davison, Trek-Volkswagen, at 8:56
8. Kelli Emmett, Giatn, at 16:01
9. Jamie Whitmore, Cannondale-Michelin, at 20:14
10. Zephanie Blasi, Kenda-X Fusion, at 21:19
Race NotesVermont native Davison scored a career-best 7th place finish in her first trip back to Mount Snow since dislocating her elbow here in 2006. The injury, suffered when Davison ran into a pipe during the 2006 NMBS race, effectively ended Davison’s 2006 campaign. “It definitely had some demons to battle, but they covered up the pipe with dirt this year which helped,” Davison said. West Virginian Betsy Shogren completed the women’s race on a single-speed bicycle and finished an impressive 11th place, 13 minutes down. A pre-race favorite to win her first elite national title, Willow Koerber was philosophical about her third-place finish. I felt like I deserved third — you deserve to win when you’re at your best and I wasn’t,” Koerber said. “It’s been a while since the girls have had a real slog like that — the whole race just felt slow. Slow climbing, slow descending — you just couldn’t go fast today.”
