The Cohutta 100 and 65 was this past Saturday. This race is the first stop on the national endurance 100 calendar and a number of the girls have been training and focusing on it. Paula, Gina, Star and Lisa have been training hard and doing a ton of course recon. They were as ready as anyone to mix it up. The biggest question on race day was going to be the sudden heat we are FINALLY experiencing. Hydration was going to be key.
Paula lined up for the 100 with the goal to make the podium. She definitely had the fitness and knew her competition. Our friend Carey was the girl to beat and Paula knew it. Paula was feeling good and riding strong until an unfortunate flat tire took her hopes for a win away; she did manage to ride a strong ride and finished an impressive second place even after the flat tire and a broken spoke. Congrats Paula. That is an awesome ride. Congrats also to Carey, she rode an incredibly strong race for a convincing win.
Gina, Star and Lisa lined up for the 65 mile version and were hoping for the best. Gina has been practically living out there on those trails for the last two months so she should have been ale to ride them in her sleep. All that recon paid off. She won!!! Congratulations to Gina. Star rode a VERY strong race to take 7th; finishing 45 minutes faster than her goal time and 15 minutes faster than her "if everything goes right" time. She lost a couple of spot due to some dehydration and cramping issues near the end, but still had a personal best on the day and rode like a rock star. Congratulations!!! Lisa rode a strong consistent race to finish in the top 10.
Great job ladies. That was a tough race and you all made it look easy. We are all so proud of you!!!
1 comment:
Congrats to all! Even though Paula had some mechanical issues I knew she was strong enough to come back and challenge for the win. So I was on the gas the whole time. Kudos to us locals for going 1 and 2 on Specialized bikes.
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