Squawker Classic Cycling Race Recap
This was one of my favorite stories to report on. I love combining both my passions of cycling and journalism. I enjoyed telling the story of the bike race, and also the story of the bike racers. I felt it was important to shine the spotlight on collegiate cyclists and give them a voice, because collegiate cycling gets very little media coverage.
The final race weekend of the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference began Saturday. The three race weekend, hosted by the Fort Lewis College Cycling Team, provides one last chance for riders to prepare themselves before the USA Cycling Collegiate National Championships next weekend.
The main event on Saturday was the downtown criterium race. The race began with the Men C category at 11:30 a.m., and ended when the Men A category finished at 3:40 p.m.
The course was ¾ of a mile long and was mostly flat with one small hill. Riders race for a designated amount of time dependent on their category.
Below are recaps of all categories in the order they raced.
Men C
The 30 minute long race began with Colorado State University’s Steward Ross attempting to get away from the main group.
With a few laps to go in the race, three riders from University of Colorado, Colorado College, and Air Force Academy rode clear of the main group and stayed away until the finish.
CU’s Josef Nelson won with time to celebrate before the line. CC came in second and USAFA in third.
“Before the hill I attacked, and then I was able to hold them off,” Nelson said.
Women B/C
The Women’s B and C category were raced together due to small field sizes. In total there were only four women who made up these two categories.
The sole Women C racer, and category winner, was FLC’s Peyton Valko.
The group of four racers stayed together until the finish.
In the end it was USAFA’s Elizabeth Frakes who came out victorious in the B category.
“In the last turn, the girl was probably ten, fifteen feet in front of me, and I had a great sprint; my best of the season,” Frakes said.
Men B
The Men B race started fast and was strung out the entire 40 minutes.
FLC riders Nash Dory, Dillon Janda, Julian Maissel, and Jake Marasco rode the front the entire race attempting multiple breakaways, but CU did not let that happen.
Eventually it came to a sprint with FLC’s Malik Mariano and Dillon Janda taking first and second place, respectively.
“I was just getting myself on the second wheel, saw Dillon come out on the left side, grabbed his wheel and we finished one - two,” Mariano said.
Women A
The Women A race was dominated by Colorado Mesa University. CMU’s Natalia Franco spent most of her time off the front solo. For a short time she rejoined the six women chase group, but then she was off the front again.
Going into the final laps, FLC’s Charlotte Backus bridged up to Franco along with two other CMU riders. The CMU trio put pressure on Backus, tiring her out.
In the end, Mesa’s Ariane Horbach won the sprint, with Backus in second place.
“We tried to keep on attacking, and then we started to sprint pretty early,” Horbach said.
Men A
The hour long Men A race was very controlled. Despite losing a rider to a crash, CU did not let any moves go, keeping the race together until the sprint finish.
CU’s Noah Granigan won the sprint, just edging out FLC’s Emmanuel Gagne.
“We have nationals next week so we’re trying to simulate what that’s going to be like,” Granigan said. “We were racing to make it come down to a field sprint so we had practice with however many guys at the finish at the end, rather than having a bunch of small groups,” he said.
Collegiate road cyclists raced up the front hill and around Rim Drive Sunday morning for day two of the Squawker Classic race weekend.
The men A category started the day at 8 a.m. and the women A category finished at noon.
Each category raced for a designated number of laps around the five mile course.
Below are recaps of each category in the order they raced.
Men A
The Men A category stayed together on their first of nine laps. By the second lap, a break of three riders went up the road. Fort Lewis College’s Andre Bos was in the trio along with riders from University of Colorado and Colorado Mesa University.
The trio stayed away until the final lap where CU riders attacked the steep climb up E. 8th Ave.
CU riders Grant Ellwood and Daniel Rowen went one - two, respectively.
“We just kind of threw a few attacks, a few hard digs at the end, and then Daniel and I went for it on the climb, and it worked out well for us,” Ellwood said.
Men B
FLC’s Nash Dory broke away solo on the first of six laps. FLC riders in the main field made sure Dory could stay away, and the rest of the teams could not chase him back.
After a convincing solo win by Dory, teammate Dillon Janda attacked the climb to take second place for the Skyhawks.
“Dillon made a break for it,” Dory said. “I chased it down, just kept on the gas and from there on out made a gap and kept working,” he said.
Men C
The collegiate men C category raced as a combined field with the USA Cycling category 4/5 and master 45+ categories due to small field sizes.
The small field size meant that the men C race would be pretty split up for the four lap race. Colorado College’s Adam Jolly kept the lead the entire race for the win, followed by Colorado State University.
“There was a pesky CSU guy on my tail the entire time, but I was just kinda working with the old dudes to shake him off, and eventually we did,” Jolly said.
Women A
Colorado Mesa University’s Natalia Franco was on the attack from the first lap of the six lap race. She was chased by a CU rider and followed by three others. By the second lap, Franco was off the front solo.
Franco maintained her lead all the way to the finish for the win. Going into the last lap, CU’s Emily Shaldach made a solo move from the main group of four. As she crested the final climb with another rider, Shaldach was able to sprint for second place.
FLC’s Charlotte Backus took fourth place.
“I’m a climber so I just knew I had to wait for the climb and then put my pace like progressive,” Franco said. “I just like broke away without even trying and then just keeping the same pace for the rest of the race,” she said.
Women B/C
Once again the combined women B/C field was very small, with FLC’s Peyton Valko being the only C rider.
The race stayed split up for the full four laps, and Denver University’s Christa Gutzel had a big lead.
Gutzel took the win with Air Force Academy in second.
“I know I can do hills so I just stayed with the pack for the first lap, and then I took off on this hill,” Gutzel said.