Ed Sanders Memorial CX

Sunday was the second CX race weekend in the Mid-Atlantic, but the first race where Velo Bella was out in force!

With the exception of the mercury level, the weather was ripe for a cross race; it had rained steadily for the past 3 days, was overcast, a bit of a breeze, and the leaves were falling all around.

The Styer family was there with the support tent and mechanical help.  Morgan and Alicia raced, with Alicia getting to do a race with our superstar, Dee Dee “Grasshopper” Winfield.  Dee Dee took the Men’s 3/4 to task, and gave them a run for their money, and certainly could have won had it not been her “warm-up” race!  Alicia was the sole female racer in the U18 field, and held her own and learned a few things along the way! 

Fellow Bella’s Marisa and Nicole arrived mid-morning from DC and found the Lilyponds alive with excitement. The men’s race was in full force, the “back 9” section of the course had the beer garden tapped, and we saw alot of muddy bikes!

Both the W123 and the W34 were to race together (2 min separation), so we headed out on the course for a warm-up lap. Nicole had a very eventful warm-up lap, running over a live snake and then burying herself in the mud pit! It was a gross, smelly, peanut-butter-consistency mud.  UGH.  For the actual race, most chose to run through the mud, but Bella Marisa impressed the elite women when she rode through the muck and beat the elite chick running….yea Bella! 

We had a great showing of women, It was a pretty big field, about 12 elite, and 20 in the 3/4.  As the two women fields lined up, the skies opened up and it started to pour.  The juniors behind us started to cheer, but the women murmured that the course was already wet enough!

The course was long, and they expected us to race 4 to 5 laps.  After the first lap, most of us were definitely hoping for only 4 laps!

Dee Dee lapped everyone on the second-to-last lap, and the rest of the podium field went by the 3/4 gals about 1/4 way from the finish.

In the end, the Bella’s had a great showing:

W1/2/3
1st Place:  Dee Dee Winfield
4th Place:  Melanie Swartz

W3/4
6th Place:  Nicole Shue
13th Place:  Marisa Peacock

U19
1st Place:  Alicia Styer

M4 (Go Velo Fella!)
43rd Place:  Morgan Styer

Race Results

Velo News Article