USCF National Track Championships - CN

Lehigh Valley Velodrome - Trexlertown, PA, August 27-31 2002

Event program and results

Day 3 - August 29, 2002: Wrap Up

The rain subsides and the action continues

By Gwen Hoover

Taking advantage of a break in the rainy weather that has fallen on Trexlertown for two days, competition resumed Thursday at the 2002 USCF National Track Cycling Championships. Seven national champions were crowned Thursday, as competition schedules were shuffled after events Wednesday were postponed due to heavy rain.

In the women's sprint, it was a battle between hometown favorites Tanya Lindenmuth (Macungie, PA) and Sarah Uhl (Perkasie, PA). Lindenmuth, a 2000 Olympian and the defending women's national sprint champion, won the title, beating Uhl in the first and second heats of the sprint finals. Uhl, the 2001 World Junior Champion in the women's sprint, won the women's espoir (under 23) sprint title, in addition to her second finish in the elite women's sprint.

"I'm fighting a cold, so it's not fun breathing," said Lindenmuth. "I led it [the final heat] out, to make sure I wouldn't have the pressure to pass someone. I'm glad I raced Sarah in the finals, because you want someone to push you in the finals. She did well.I'm really excited about the younger riders coming up like that who aren't afraid to really give it their all against the defending [national] champ."

Michael Beers (Breinigsville, PA) continued the string of hometown victories by winning the elite men's kilo with a time of 1.07.453 over Adam Duvendeck (Colorado Springs, Colo.) This is Beers first individual national title; he has won two tandem national championships ('00, '01). Duvendeck won the espoir title in the men's kilo for his efforts.

"I knew I had a chance at the title when I saw the time that Adam rolled; then I thought I could make it," said Beers, who spends his time coaching track and instructing kids on helmut safety when he isn't training. "I've been riding well, so I thought I could roll that time - I've been rolling under it consistently in training and I thought I could do it tonight."

Multi-national champion and two-time Olympian Jame Carney (Durango, Colo.) won the men's points race by lapping the field twice in the 120-lap finals. Thursday's victory assures Carney of a berth on the World Track Cycling Championships team. The 2002 World Track Cycling Championships will be contested next month in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"The points race always hurts," said Carney. The semi-finals (60 laps) were originally scheduled for Thursday morning to give the riders a break before the evening finals. However, due to rainy weather in the morning, both the semi-finals and finals (120 laps) of the men's points race were contested Thursday evening, presenting an endurance challenge for the riders.

"I was on the start line, thinking, 'okay, here we go.this is not going to be any fun," continued Carney. "But if I can hurt more than anyone else, then hopefully I can be on top of the podium."

Ronne Irvine (Herndon, Va.) was the sole Paralympic rider competing in the LC1 (below the knee amputee) division Thursday. He won Thursday's kilometer race, in addition to the 4000m pursuit on Wednesday.