Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling in Durango - Race #6

(Oct. 15-16) Durango, CO - The final weekend of the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference was hosted by the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks in Durango, CO.  While the weekend was not conference championships, it was the final chance to earn points towards the conference overall standings and provided a final tune-up for riders heading to Angel Fire, NM in two weeks for Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals.  

The short track, run on Saturday morning, was a fairly flat mix of dirt roads and single track held right on the Fort Lewis campus.   In the largest A-Women’s field of the season with 18 riders, the racing started out fast and aggressive with Jill Behlen (University of Wyoming) taking the hole-shot.  Lauren Catlin (FLC) quickly took advantage of her home-course knowledge and powered away from Behlen, Katie Sodergren (University of Colorado), and Sarah Sturm (FLC).  She maintained her advantage, reiterating that she was the rider to beat on power courses.  In the men’s race, FLC had both depth and numbers and placed eight riders in the top ten.  Their assault was led by Rotem Ishay who is quickly coming into form for Nationals.  Greg Carpenter and Colton Anderson were 2nd and 3rd.  Matthew Fox (Colorado State) and Joe Schneider (School of Mines) were the only two able to break the stronghold of the host school, placing 6th and 9th, respectively.

The dual slalom was held later that afternoon on a newly modified track on Chapman Hill.  Complete with newly built features, the course was anything but smooth and many riders struggled to put together top-to-bottom runs without crashing.  For the women, Colleen Pacurario (Air Force), consistently the fasted woman in the gravity events, took the win over Jill Behlen (UW).  Fort Lewis riders continued their dual-slalom domination on their home course, eliminating all the other teams from both the big and small final.  Taylor Boruki beat teammate Phil Cowan in the big final for the win.

On Sunday morning, race organizers switched up the normal order of events by sending the A and B category men out on the course first at 8 am.  The women, who normally race before the sun hits the course, were able to enjoy the morning and watch their teammates race before lining up themselves three hours later.  The XC was held on the trails ringing the campus high above the town of Durango and while most of the trails were fairly smooth, many of them had serious exposure and consequences for riding off the edge.  Rotem Ishay (FLC) took his second win of the weekend over teammate Howard Grotts after nearly giving up the race due to a mechanical. Ishay broke a pedal on the final miles of the course and was forced to pedal in with one leg, just holding off Grotts. Lauren Catlin (FLC) rode away from the rest of the field after Sodergren (CU) dropped her chain on the first climb and was forced to work her way through traffic to the front of the race on a course with relatively few zones to pass in.  Sarah Sturm (FLC) rode in second for the majority of the race before crashing and being caught by a charging Sodergren.

When the dust had settled, Fort Lewis College won the DI conference title ahead of University of Colorado and Western State College won the DII title ahead of the School of Mines.