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World 24-hour solo championships - NE
Whistler, Canada, September 3-4, 2005
Eatough makes it six
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Chris Eatough (Trek/VW) rode to his sixth consecutive 24 Hours of Adrenalin World Championship this weekend in Whistler, British Columbia. After a full twenty-four hours of cold and rain, Eatough finished at 12:08 Sunday having completed twenty-two laps of the 14.3 kilometer loop for 314 total kilometers. He finished twenty-seven minutes ahead of Ernesto Marenchin of Kent, Washington.
Canadian adventure racer Marg Fedyna won the women's race ahead of 2005 NORBA Marathon Series Champion and NORBA 24-Hours Solo Champion Monique Sawicki (TeamMATA - Warrior's Society). Sawicki was racing in her second-ever 24-hour solo race.
Adrenalin-series promoters provided a world-class challenge for the field this past weekend. Held on the slopes above Whistler Ski Resort, 115 kilometers north of Vancouver, British Columbia, solo competitors rode a modified version of the team's competition course. The modification brought the per-lap climbing to 460 meters compared to the 13.1 kilometers, 380 meters standard lap.
A constant misty drizzle fell at noon on Saturday as Solo competitors were sent off five minutes ahead of the team's field. In a sign of the day to come, Chris Eatough was the first rider to finish the first lap at 49:56 (even with the extra kilometers and climbing). Nat Ross (Subaru - Gary Fisher) was hot on his heels only twenty seconds back. Missing on the start line was 24-hour solo legend Tinker Juarez, who opted out of the race to save himself for a competition in Ohio next weekend.
Eatough kept the pressure on, seeming to ignore the slick and muddy conditions; posting focused lap times and wasting no time in his efficiently run pit. By early afternoon, Eatough had put fifty minutes on his chasers; Canada's Galen Kehler, Ernesto Marenchin of Kent, WA and Ross.
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Newly crowned NORBA Marathon Series Champ Monique Sawicki was the first woman in on lap one; 11 minutes behind Eatough. The challenge to Sawicki's lead came early as Canadian endurance specialist Marg Fedyna slipped into the front and Californian Louise Kobin (racing in her fourth 24 Hours of Adrenalin Solo Worlds) moved into second.
In twenty-four hour solo races though, it is the time between midnight and dawn that can test a racer's resolve more than any other; riders are usually past their training-ride limits and can struggle mentally. Drenched by the hardest deluges of the race, the constant rain and fatigue took its toll on many competitors. But not Eatough. He seemed infallible. He continued to pit methodically and pounded out the laps as evenly as conditions allowed. The group of three behind Eatough shuffled positions through the night but never drew within twenty-five minutes of the NORBA Marathon Series Champion.
Although by a slimmer margin, Fednya held onto the women's lead through the night as well. By morning, Sawicki, who had fallen to fourth earlier in the race, managed to regain one spot and sat third behind Kobin.
Drawing toward noon and the end of the race, the top riders in the men and women's fields held their positions as best they could. Eatough finished at 12:08 having ridden 22 laps. "I have nothing left," he said, "So many things have happened during this race, so much to go through. I'm just glad that it's over."
Fednya finished at 11:24, not needing the additional lap to win. She posted eighteen total laps won with a fifty-minute margin on Sawicki and a full lap ahead of Louise Kobin. The win was Fednya's first 24 Hours of Adrenalin Solo World Championship.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Vic and Kathy Armijo
- It's the pits! Dixon's Grame Allbon rode will, pitted fast and finished 17th in the elite male category.
- A long working shift. Earlier this year Allbon won the "Working Week" series of five eight-hour races. At Whistler he rode the equivlent of three of those, back to back.
- While UK's Rob Lee was actually racing in and winning the 35-39 category, a fast run of the LeMans start put him temporarily in front of eventual eliter winner, Chris Eatough.
- Wooden you like to win? There was a contest for best decorated theme pit. Yeah, these guys won.
- Inspirational. As if racing for twenty-four hours on a highly technical course isn't tough enough, imagine doing it with only one leg! Brett Wolfe has done it for several ye
- This series of switchbacks was put in to replace a fast, fast fireroad descent. There had been concern over the speed possible on that road and of the certain crashes that would result from a pair of very abrupt water bars.
- Osmond from Oz... David Osmond wanted to finish "close to Josh Street." He got his with, finishing 6th, two spots behind his Australian rival.
- Chris Eatough is in the middle of that pit scrum. His pit crew is busy stripping off Chris' wet clothes and getting him into some fresh and dries.
- Ernesto Marenchin rode to a startling second place, just 27 minutes behind Eatough. Remember this guy!
Results
Solo WSC Male Elite Time laps 1 Chris Eatough 24.08.15 22 2 Ernesto Marenchin 24.35.17 22 3 Nat Ross 24.07.35 21 4 Josh Street 24.35.03 21 5 Mark Hendershot 23.59.34 20 6 David Osmond 24.12.51 20 7 Sloane Anderson 24.15.20 20 8 Dean Irvine 24.19.11 19 9 Bryan Bergman 24.26.54 19 10 Nelson Snyder 24.37.21 19 11 Kip Biese 24.15.15 18 12 Jim Peterson 24.28.03 18 13 Steve Schwarz 24.49.57 18 14 Jonathan Kindig 23.12.34 17 15 Jeff Wardell 23.46.57 17 16 Galen Kehler 24.16.53 17 17 Graeme Allbon 24.21.16 17 18 Brandon Raley 24.52.04 17 19 Steven Johnson 23.01.13 16 20 Francis Blesso 24.10.55 16 21 Chris Gagnon 24.07.11 15 22 John Pitt 24.02.04 14 23 Rob Lichtenwalner 15.13.37 13 24 Matt Peterson 23.00.22 13 25 Karl Etzel 23.59.42 13 26 Alexandre Filion 14.37.04 11 27 David Silvers 23.08.10 11 28 Taylor Sullivan 23.43.15 11 29 Thomas Hodlmoser 10.30.25 10 30 Josh Oppenheimer 11.08.30 9 31 Brett Wolfe 13.32.53 8 32 Jonah Clark 8.04.20 7 33 Spencer Fulkerson 21.59.28 7 34 Dan Barger/Team Subaru 6.33.56 6 Solo WSC Female Elite 1 Marg Fedyna 23.24.31 18 2 Monique Sawicki 24.25.54 18 3 Louise Kobin 23.41.52 17 4 Freya Scollay 24.04.09 16 5 Kate Aardal 23.00.19 15 6 Danielle Musto 23.28.49 14 7 Cyd Fraser 23.52.57 14 8 Jennette Allum 14.30.16 8 9 Terri Wahlberg 10.08.36 6 WSC Male Single Speed 1 Dejay Birtch 23.41.14 18 2 Dale Plant 23.47.04 17 3 Joe Partridge 23.00.41 13 4 Ted Tautges 23.48.58 12 5 Jake Kirkpatrick 6.45.15 6 Solo WSC Male 55+ 1 Bob Waggoner 23.18.09 11 Solo WSC Male 50 to 54 1 Randy Profeta 23.44.10 14 2 Dale greenhalgh 23.03.19 12 Solo WSC Male 45 to 49 1 Max Schuster 23.53.26 17 2 Marshall Reeves 23.38.03 15 3 Neil Dall 24.35.49 15 4 Rick Feese 23.58.17 12 5 Brian Culbert 12.11.15 9 6 David Piercy 18.37.06 8 7 Mark Rhode 23.00.26 7 Solo WSC Male 40 to 44 1 S. John Millon 23.01.21 14 2 William McFadden 23.37.11 13 3 Bruce Gordon 23.11.52 12 4 Brett Goett 23.02.29 11 5 Bob Stanhope 23.50.17 11 6 Peter Rajcani 24.44.16 10 7 Kent Stuckert 24.12.57 8 Solo WSC Male 35 to 39 1 Mike Gaertner 24.04.25 17 2 Jason Sandquist 24.09.15 17 3 Craig Bartlett 24.25.38 17 4 Stuart Kane 24.30.04 14 5 Dave Dacosta 23.02.33 13 6 Steve Swenson 23.34.17 13 7 Brian Vaughan 23.31.16 12 8 Jeff Welsh 23.54.12 12 9 Bart Stetler 23.00.18 10 10 Peter Oppenheim 23.02.11 9 11 Charles Barnes 24.36.07 8 Solo WSC Male 30 to 34 1 Rob Lee 23.13.48 18 2 Mario Amann 24.04.44 16 3 Matthew Hart 24.19.10 16 4 Garth Ludwig 24.48.21 16 5 Robyn Christensen 24.50.24 14 Solo WSC Male 25 to 29 1 Gerald Bauer 23.12.14 17 2 Geoff Gasior 24.06.00 11 3 Russel Clarke 24.11.03 5 4 P.J. Lingley 2.49.43 2 Solo WSC Male < 25 1 Luke Rozanski 23.41.49 13 2 Glen Lombard 24.17.43 12 Solo WSC Female 45 to 49 1 Vivian Chwalinski 23.02.05 9 Solo WSC Female 40 to 44 1 Maribeth Evezich 24.11.17 13 2 Kim Birgh-Pitkanen 24.15.10 13 Solo WSC Female 35 to 39 1 Sandra Tomlinson 23.26.57 13 2 Melanie Dominguez 24.13.42 12 3 Wendy Tynan 24.24.10 10 Solo WSC Female < 25 1 Sarah Kaufmann 23.06.11 10 Solo Male 1 Thomas Schulz 24.21.06 17 2 Paul Sharman 24.40.26 17 3 Matt Klymson 23.25.48 16 4 Andrew Wilcox 23.03.36 15 5 David Scheer 24.34.37 15 6 Johnny Oshika 23.33.43 14 7 Sean Lukan 23.46.07 12 8 Shane Swanson 24.47.31 10 9 Michael Orr 24.32.43 9 10 Warren Staff 20.44.09 7 11 Sean Stephens 9.23.39 6 Solo Female 1 Penny Deck 23.13.29 10 Corporate 6 - 10 Person Team 1 Rocky Mountain - Business Objects 23.54.51 29 2 WB We are IT 24.22.35 25 3 MellowJohnnys 23.57.54 23 4 Sponge Butt Square Wheels 24.18.26 20 5 Team Wood 24.22.10 20 6 Slayers 24.33.30 20 7 Back in the Saddle Again 24.34.45 19 8 Westin Warriors 23.50.23 18 9 Ready to Roll 24.30.09 18 10 Extreme Pleasure 24.09.44 16 11 Crazy Horsemen 21.33.28 12 5 Person (Co-ed) 1 Team Yeti 24.26.13 26 2 Team Atomic 24.32.37 24 3 Extreme Pain 24.35.36 24 4 The Dirt Digglers 24.41.26 24 5 Fast For Dad 24.04.13 23 6 Team Pique 24.06.46 22 7 BiKe 'N BanDits 24.21.43 22 8 Quit Lollygagging 24.11.01 20 9 City Slickers 24.32.51 20 10 Muddi Buddies 24.04.20 19 11 Off-Roadies 23.00.38 16 12 Endo-licious 23.12.21 15 13 DFL 24.21.09 15 5 Person 150-199 1 Race Day Magic 24.20.28 26 2 Bearbackbiking.com 24.11.35 25 3 Barking Spider Mountain Bike 23.49.59 24 4 Bran Muffin Productions 24.39.07 21 5 Looped 23.00.48 20 6 Spruce Grove Massiv 24.19.18 20 7 Great West Chrysler Rock Stars 24.46.46 20 8 Dirty Daddies 24.57.46 19 9 Stunt Doubles 24.36.32 18 10 Ooglie Booglie 23.45.31 17 11 Pie Men 24.17.40 17 12 Team Crank and Stank: Return of the Stink 24.35.28 17 13 Sprocketheads 23.15.19 16 5 Person 200+ 1 Outspokin' 24.44.20 25 2 Heavy Pedals 24.10.08 24 3 SORCE Team Chain Suck 24.17.55 23 4 Extreme Pain (HCW) 24.16.57 22 5 SORCE (Team B) 23.27.12 20 6 Krinkum Krankum 24.22.26 18 7 Burnaby Mountain Biking Association 23.20.38 15 5 Person Female 1 B-rides 24.08.52 20 2 Experience Cycle 24.19.13 20 3 Randy's Girlz 24.43.35 20 4 Mountain FM Cicks 24.49.17 19 5 Meet the Frockers 24.04.42 18 6 Papa's Gorgeous Girls 23.36.52 17 7 Spinning Sisters 23.50.11 16 8 Seattle Team LUNAchix 24.01.35 14 9 'Lil Angels 24.12.17 14 5 Person Under 149 1 Dusty Bottoms 24.25.41 22 2 The Dirt Busters 23.47.24 21 3 Bangers & Mashers 24.02.42 17 4 Person 1 Whistler 24.49.15 25 2 The Flying Flossmen 23.48.18 23 3 Crestline 24.39.14 23 4 Team DumbAss 24.43.01 23 5 Morning Wood 23.56.03 22 6 Cairo Cycling Club 24.26.38 18 7 Arrogant Bastards 23.43.11 17 8 Rye'd Guys 23.46.42 17 9 Team Universal 23.52.36 17 10 Three Albertans and an Englishman 19.08.38 16 11 Ill Tempered Sea Bass 23.50.35 15 12 Team LaWigDo 24.37.17 14 13 A Hard Woman is Good to Find 24.10.03 12 3 Person WSC (Co-ed) 1 Gerber Legendary Blades 23.50.49 18
