U.S. rides to 12th as Mountain Bike Worlds open with team relay
Canberra, AUS (September 1, 2009) – The 2009 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships got underway on Tuesday with the team relay event in which the U.S. placed 12th.
In the team relay, each nation entered a team comprised of an elite male, elite female, U23 male, and junior male. Each rider contested one lap of the 6.47-kilometer Stromlo Forest Cross Country course and at the end of their lap, tagged the next rider on their team.
The U.S. foursome was made up of Heather Irmiger (Boulder, Colo./Subaru-Gary Fisher), Russell Finsterwald (Colorado Springs, Colo./Pro Cycling-SRM), Colin Cares (Boulder, Colo./Kenda-Tomac-Hayes), and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Boulder, Colo./Subaru-Gary Fisher)
Completing the four laps with a final time of 1:17:54, the American squad was 3:52 off the winning pace set by the Italians. The Canadian and French teams earned the silver and bronze medals.
Next up in Canberra are the Junior Women’s and U23 Women’s cross country events. Jill Behlen (Boulder, Colo./Tokyo Joes) and Essence Barton (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) will toe the line for the junior women’s event Wednesday morning while Amy Dombrowski (Boulder, Colo./Webcor Builders) and Chloe Forsman (Tuscon, Ariz./Luna) will represent the U.S. in the U23 women’s contest in the afternoon. Stay tuned to www.usacycling.org for results!
Photo Caption: Colin Cares was the U.S. squad's U23 rider in the team relay.
Photo courtesy of www.canadiancyclist.com
This Article Published 2009-09-01 09:50:48
For more information contact: kkahn@usacycling.org
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