Race 4 took us to one of our local and favorite places to ride, Gurney Lane! The NICA League put together a fantasatic course with a mix of the best trails in the park! There were fun climbs, fast flowing sections with fun rollers, rock gardens and a nice challenging downhill at the end of the lap.
With record high temperatures forecasted for the weekend, we made sure to be bring plenty of water and ice for the athletes. The pre-ride Saturday was scorching, with the sun and no wind, but the course was in excellent shape! Middle school course was 3 miles in length and high school course was 4 miles. Due to the high temperatures, the rules were altered to allow water to be given to the athletes on any part of the course in addition to the designated feed zone.
Sunday Morning started out warm, but with a light breeze it was bearable. This race the middle school girls raced first, followed by High School girls, then Middle school boys, ending with High School Boys.
Middle school Girls tackled the course first, with Kiera winning the 7th Grade race, Mackenzie moving her way up to 6th place, and Courtney competing in her first race, coming in 3rd place!
The High school Girls were up next. Erin Started the race in the lead and never looked back, winning the Girls varsity race for the 4th time this season. Karlynne had her bet race of the season, finishing on the podium in 5th place scoring very important points for the team. Emma and Lily toughed out the heat and finished on the podium for Sophomore girls in 2nd and 4th places respectively.
In the freshman girls race, Amber, Kat and another racer battled it out for the top 3 positions, with Amber taking an early lead. Kat raced conservatively until the last lap and made her move, winning her first race of the season. Amber’s second place finished earned her enough points to take the leaders jersey going into the final face.
Next up was the Middle School Boys Race. The 8th Graders started off first, with Brayden and Brayden racing hard, finishing in 11th and 18th place. In the 7th Grade race, Cameron, Riley and Aiden finished on the podium in 2nd, 3rd and 4th places, and Jonathan and Caleb fighting through the heat to finish in 12th and 13th place. Reed and Peter were our 2 6th Graders racing this week, with both moving their way up in the field. Reed finished on the podium in 5th place, and Peter cracking the top 10, in 9th place.
With temperatures still climbing the High school Boys had the most brutal conditions of the day as their race started at 1pm. Varsity Boys had the most laps, with John, Silas and Collin pacing themselves well, finishing in 7th, 9th and 11th. Jasper fought hard in the JV Race, just missing the podium and finishing in 6th place, but still important points for the team. Charles also had a fantastic top 10 finish, placing 8th in the JV race. Philip and Connor also raced strong finishing in 13th and 21st respectively in the JV race.
Owen took the early lead in the Sophomore boys race and left the rest of the field in the dust (latterly) winning the Sophomore boys race for the second time in a row. He also earned himself the series leader Jersey this race. Michael had his best race of the season so far cracking in the top to finishing 9th place! Drew, Eben and Alex rounded out or Sophomore team, finishing in 14th, 17th and 19th.
Ethan, Logan and Cooper raced in the Freshman Boys race, the final race of the day. Ethan finished in 14th place, Logan finished in 17th place after some bike issues on the first lap and Cooper raced fantastic to finish in 24th place.
With 1 more race left in the season, R-Cubed sits in a strong 2nd place overall in Team standing for the league. The Championship race at Walnut Mountain in liberty, NY will take place on June 5th.
All athletes did a fantastic job competing today. The heat was brutal, but they all took it in stride and raced their hearts ours. Great job everyone, it’s always nice to see all your hard work paying off.
Huge thanks to our Grill Master Michael Macintosh for providing us needed food all day long!
Top Scorers for R-Cubed:
Overall Team Results:
Full Results:
https://my.raceresult.com/202730/
Go R-Cubed!