Race Results

Iowa City Cycling Races
April 23-25, Iowa City
The Iowa City weekend of bike races was an exciting one. The three-day weekend began on Friday evening with the Goosetown Time Trial, followed by the Road Race on Saturday, finishing with the Old Capital Criterium in downtown Iowa City on Sunday.
Paul Deninger and Lisa Vetterlein put their stamp on the evening by posting the fastest overall time for the approximately 10-mile course. Chad Bishop, a category 3 racer from Muscatine, has shown he’ll be a force to be reckoned with this year, as he finished second overall, ahead of many strong category 1 and 2 cyclists. Vetterlein, of Des Moines, holding the record for the World’s Fastest Woman (200 Meter flying start: 66.59 mph, October 2007), bested many notables, including Tour De France veteran Jeff Bradley of Davenport.
The Saturday Road Race held its share of surprises. Brian Moritz, of Burlington, snuck away from a late breakaway to win the category1/2/Pro race over a stellar field including Steve Tilford of Kansas and Brian Eppen of Iowa City. Lisa Vetterlein again lit it up, taking a sprint from Iowa City cyclist Kim Eppen.
In addition, two collarbones were broken in other category fields and one deer collided with a rider in the category 4 race, taking a dozen riders down with it.
The Old Capital Criterium was held under threatening skies that never did open up, leaving a dry course and very few, if any, crashes on the fast corners. A trio of Texas Roadhouse Cycling Team made waste of the rest of the field in the cat 1/2/Pro, finishing1-2-3. Pat Lemieux took the victory and was followed by Colton Barrett and Adam Bergman, all teammates on the Texas-based team.
Lisa Vetterlein made it a perfect weekend by again beating Kim Eppen to the line in a two-up sprint. The pair made a strong break early on and worked together to pull away from chasers Kristin Meshberg and Sydney Brown. For full results www.oldcapcrit.com.  

 

Trans-Iowa Gravel Road Race
April 24, Grinnell
In the first five editions of Trans-Iowa, a 300- to 350-mile, non-stop, unsupported gravel road race through Iowa, only 15 percent of those registered have finished. After the sixth, that percentage is even lower.
Leaving Grinnell at 4 a.m. on Saturday, April 24, 58 racers ventured off into a heavy mist and distant flashes of lightning. A tailwind pushed them west toward Newton on thick wet roads. An hour into the race, the wind shifted, the drizzle turned to heavy rain and the distant lightning bore down upon the riders. The intense ground strike lightning had riders running for cover in any nearby barn, ditch or off-course to Newton.
Riders must make the first checkpoint, in Monroe, 44 miles in, by 8 a.m. to receive the second set of cue cards and head on with the race. Out of the 58 starters, only 24 made it in time. Of those 24, only 11 made it to the third checkpoint, 87 miles later, as rain continued to fall, turning the roads to mush. By 7 p.m., after the two leaders, Joe Meiser and John Gorilla of Minnesota, took two and a half hours to travel less than 20 miles, the race was called.
Fearing for the safety of riders traveling through the night in the heavy rains, race directors Mark Stevenson and David Pals made the decision. So the legacy of being one of the most difficult races in the country continues. Undoubtedly, an ambitious bunch of riders will send in a registration card in January with the hopes that the gods that dictate Iowa weather in late April will smile upon them and allow them to pass. Tim Ek of northern Minnesota sums it up best:
“The beauty of the Trans Iowa lies in the fact that it just might be so difficult that no one will be able to complete it. This event is capable of taking the strongest, most gifted endurance riders and breaking them down to a point that they are forced to look within themselves and ask, ‘should I continue?’”
The rest of his story, “None Shall Pass,” is worth the read. Click on www.momentumiowa.blogspot.com for the link.


Drake Relay’s On The Roads
Half Marathon Results
As an early morning storm rolled through Des Moines, runners registered for the Drake Relays Half Marathon and 8K run and wondered if they’d see a repeat of the heavy rains and cold winds that plagued the event several years ago.
The clouds cleared in time for the start, leaving a calm cool morning — perfect for a long run through the Capital City.
Sammy Rotich, a 23-year-old Kenyan living in West Des Moines, was untouched by the chasers as he maintained a 5:11 per mile pace throughout the 13.1-mile race. Rotich has had an impressive season of racing, as the Drake Half Marathon was his second of three half marathon wins in a row. The weekend prior to Drake, Rotich beat Olympian Brian Sell by three minutes in the Kansas City Half. A week after Drake, Rotich won the Lincoln Half Marathon. Craig Donnelly, 25, of Shawnee, Okla., finished second in 1:09:16 and Adam Bohach, 25, of Clinton was third in 1:10:33
Erin Moeller, 32, of Mt. Vernon, bested the strong women’s field, finishing 10th overall in 1:17:49. Traci Kresser, 24, of Clive finished in second in 1:21:14 and Danna Kelly, 23, of Des Moines rounded out the top three in 1:22:51.
Full results can be found at www.fitnesssports.com.

 

Scheels Jordan Creek Duathlon
May 16
A cool, cloudy morning met athletes as they converged on the Jordan Creek Mall for the Scheels Jordan Creek Duathlon on Sunday, May 16 in West Des Moines. An east wind kept temperatures cool for the first leg, a two-mile run around the mall. Cyclists had an easy introduction to the ride, heading south, downhill, to the Raccoon River valley and Grand Avenue, where they would turn west toward Booneville. Speeds would reach near 30 mph for the front running cyclists along the flat road with a strong tailwind.
Once the turn was made, at the half way point, cyclists would then battle into a headwind back to the bottom of the Jordan Creek Parkway hill. A long climb was all that remained as Mike Migonis, Mike Morrison, Joshua Wandrey and Thomas Woods kept things close as they approached the final run.
Migonis pulled away on the final 2.5 mile run, finishing in 1:05:01, nearly a minute and thirty seconds ahead of second place Morrison in 1:06:27. Wandry (1:09:30) moved ahead of Woods (1:09:59), putting 30 seconds on him as they rounded the lake toward the finish line. Doug Vander Weide finished fifth, another minute behind in 1:11:11.


Kiera Karas pulled away on the opening run and kept her lead to the finish, winning in 1:16:18. Ani Trane was second with a 1:17:53 while Tanelle Berard rounded out the podium in 1:18:58.