Breck Epic: Stage 1, Pensylvania Gulch

Report by Eddie Clark

Bishop defends men's leaders jersey, and Sawicki commandingly takes women's lead.

(Aug 22, 2010) Breckenridge, Colo—The second running of the Breck Epic got under way with a 39.5 miles opening stage that featured 6100 feet of climbing for the opening day.  With clear skies and brisk morning temps, a police escort led 165 ambitious racers up Illinois Gulch road and onto Boreas Pass road before they dove into some classic Summit County singletrack.

“It was a perfect day with perfect trail conditions” noted women’s open winner Pua Sawicki, “It was a good race and I just kind of stayed comfortable out there”.  Sawicki of Okole Stuff/Ellsworth was so comfortable that she cracked the top 10 of overall finishers, and finished with a gap of 25:31 over the second place woman Ivonne Kraft.

A solid ride and strength in numbers helped Cannodale’s Jeremiah Bishop successfully defend his 2009 title with a win on the first stage.  It was a quadruplet of Bishop, Alex Grant, Ben Sonntag- all representing Team Cannondale, and Josh Tostado who distanced  the remaining 33 men's open racers on their ascent of Mt Baldy.  “That was much faster than I expected.  It’s a long race and anything can happen, so I had it up to max pace on Little French to put a little time on him (Tostado)” said Bishop of his race winning ride.

In other classes, Evan Plew took the singlespeed victory, and Russel Kappius picked up where he left off in the duo race last year with a victory in the men’s 50+ race.  See Breck Epic for more race info.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for coverage on the second stage of racing.

More photos here.

It's the Breck Epic, and up is a common direction.	Jeremiah Bishop had a good day of racing with a first place finish.	Alex Grant eanred his money with some solid pulls on the Mt Baldy climb.
Many of the open men racing were passed by n on-form Pua Sawicki.	Russell Kappius is back to his winning ways, although this time only solo since his son had college commitments.	Charlie Hayes #55 had the singlespeed leed early on as did the trailing duo of Parsons and Muhlfeld.
Returning Breck Epic racer Bernie Romero proudly wore his leaders jersey from last year.	Clydesdale racer Ken Kreidl is almost on top of the world enrout to taking his class lead.	Fourth place finisher Josh Tostado will be one to watch with his fitness and local knowledge of the Summit County trails.