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by Gerard & Erin Arantowicz
Held on the majestic lakefront fields of Clinton Lake State Park,the first annual Chris Cross Cyclocross Race served as the final 2001 competition in the the cycling rich community of Lawrence, Kansas.
Raced on a brisk and breezy Sunday afternoon, Chris Cross challenged riders with a fast and twisty 1 mile circuit that mixed treeline forest trails with wide open grassy fields and pavement. One barrier section in particular, appropriately nicknamed "Dead Man's Gulch", added an interesting element to the course because it consisted of an unstable plank lying over a rocky creak crossing. This feature, combined with off-camber gravel descents and grassy loop-de-loops favored the technically skilled racers.
Defending Collegiate National Cyclocross Champion Jed Schneider of Kansas University took top honors in the feature event, lapping the entire field in the process. Jed's mountain bike background gave him an even greater advantage than normal over his challengers in that his technical skills are superb. The Chris Cross Race was simply a tune-up ride for Jed, who resides in the state capital of Topeka, as he has represented Kansas well on the national circuit.
Kansas University's Jen Tilley won the women's feature event, defeating road sprint specialist Natalie Visser after playing cat-and-mouse with Visser for most of the 45 minute event. Tilley's mountain bike background gave her the advantage as well, as she was able to break the elastic on Natalie's grip on the offroad sections. There was not enough pavement riding on the loop for Natalie to use to advantage her powerful road legs.
The event offered excellent riding in the Master's and B divisions, as Dean Parker and Brian Jensen won their races respectively. Lastly, the future of the sport was represented in the one-lap children's race, which offered as much intensity and excitement as any race of the day.
Men A,B Pro 1 Jed Schneider (New Mexico) 2 Shadd Smith (Kansas) 3 Brian Jensen (Denmark) 4 Andy Lucas (Missouri) 5 Matt Gilhousen (Kansas) 6 Steve Songer (Kansas) 7 Dean Parker (Kansas) 8 Mike Schmidt (Kansas) 9 Eric Struchoff (Kansas) 10 Matt McKillip (Kansas) 11 Mark Thomas (Kansas) 12 Thom Leanord (Kansas) 13 Chris Locke (Missouri) 14 Scott Hammack (Kansas) 15 Pat Houtakker (Missouri) 16 Jon Martinez (Kansas) 17 Ben Coles (Kansas) 18 John Hackman (Kansas) 19 Gerard Arantowicz (Pennsylvnia) 20 Michael Gragun (Kansas) 21 Mike Berning (Kansas) 22 Rick Finley (Kansas) 23 Jeremy Haynes (Missouri) 24 Sam Perkins (Kansas) Women 1 Jennifer Tilley (Kansas) 2 Natalie"Rocket" Visser (Sweden) 3 Glenda Taylor (Kansas) 4 Teresa Jarzemoski (Kansas) Kids 1 Hayden Sanders (Kansas) 2 Charles Harrison (Kansas) 3 Randy Harrison (Kansas) 4 Bree Williams (Kansas) 5 Brian Clark (Kansas) Men C 1 Brian Lee Robinson (Summit) 2 Brian Jensen (Denmark) 3 Paul Haldaman (Kansas) 4 Andy Slater (Kansas) 5 Brendan Sheenhan (Kansas) 6 Tim Sanders (Australia) 7 Brian Williams (Kansas) 8 William Daniel Pitt (Kansas) 9 Greg Cummins (Kansas) 10 Chris King (Kansas) 11 Russ Pedersen (Missouri) 12 Chuck Millen (Missouri) 13 Gerald Wilson (Kansas) 14 Mike Linch (Kansas) 15 Ray Wojcik (Kansas) 16 James Eherler (Kansas) Previous US Results