Monavie riders Bart Gillespie and Alex Grant get an early lead
Written by: Shannon Boffeli
On a day that went from blue skies to rain and rainbows and back again riders also experienced the full range of emotions throughout the 75 miles of the inaugural Park City Point to Point presented by Trek.
Located in the resort town to Park City, Utah. The Point to Point has over 400 miles of mountain bike trails to utilize for the racecourse and it appears they chose some of the very best. The route features over 14,000 vertical feet of climbing on 90 plus percent singletrack. Racers were treated to everything Park City has to offer starting off with fast rocky trails to steep aspen lined climbs, deep wooded pine forest, challenging technical descents, and blazing fast downhills.
A stalwart bunch of 160 riders toed the start line at 7 AM Saturday morning. With the sun just rising over the Uinta mountains to the east riders charged off the line. Monavie-Cannondale.com riders Bart Gillespie and Alex Grant quickly established themselves at the front entering the singletrack 1-2. Behind the Monavie team came a solid group of endurance racers including Yuki Saito and teammate Jeff Kerkove (Topeak/Ergon), Kevin Day (Kuhl/Scott), Brandon Firth (Rocky Mountain), Chris Holley (Subaru/Gary Fisher).
As the riders started the first significant climb of the day, 45- minutes to the top of Bald Mountain, the skies opened up and dropped rain on the field. The rain did nothing to dampen the Monavie racers fire. Gillespie and Grant continued to open their gap to the rest of the pack. Once past the halfway point at Silver Lake and into the more technical portions of the race Gillespie and Grant displayed their skills as some of the best trail riders in the country.
Behind the front two, the group of chasers stayed tight, all riding within minutes of each other. Holley descended off Bald Mountain in third with Saito just seconds behind. By now the rain had stopped but a tight section with several wooden features remained wet and extremely slick. The bridges claimed several victims from the front group including Brandon Firth, who went down hard on the slippery wood.
Chris Peters collecting his pay in the early morning rain
Once the leaders passed John’s trail at mile 43 they began the second significant climb of the day, up to Shadow Lake. It was here that Grant began to show is climbing form and gap his Monavie teammate. Grant, who finished 4th at this year’s Leadville 100 riding much of the course with eventual race winner Lance Armstrong, began to ride away on the steep, grinding grades up to the lake.
Once the leader hit the aid station at Park City Mountain Resort he held a lead of 4 minutes over his teammate who in-turn held 10 minutes over third placed Chris Holley.
Once into the final long climb of the day up the Spiro trail Grant could not be stopped. Tearing through the final 25 miles of trail in just two hours setting a course record that will be tough to beat with a blistering time of 7.04.01. Gillespie crossed the line just 8 minutes back. Chris Holley held on for 3rd with Kevin Day crossing the line in 4th, happy with the effort from his first-ever marathon distance event.
Race winner Alex Grant smiling his way to a great race time
The final podium would come down to Firth and Saito who had been close all day. Saito held the advantage into the final 25-mile section of singletrack but Firth was close behind and is known for his abilities as a long distance rider. Firth closed the gap on the Ergon racer and finally made the pass with just a few miles remaining on course. Yuki Saito crossed line in 6th and went directly to the first aid station for some IV fluids.
The women’s race featured a small but stacked field of racers lead by ultra-endurance phenom and multi-time US National Champion Pua Sawicki (Ellsworth). Just back from her best-ever American finish at the Marathon World Championships in Graz, Austria, Sawicki was excited about the opportunity of race in Park City again.
Starting with Sawicki would be endurance specialist Amanda Carey (Kenda/Tomac/Hayes) who finished second at this year’s Leadville 100. The field also included local racer KC Holley (Subaru/Gary Fisher) who has won just about every endurance event she has entered this season, Sonya Looney (Topeak/Ergon) who just won the Pierre’s Hole 100, and Sarah Kaufmann (Titus/Roaring Mouse) winner of the Mount Ogden 50k two weeks ago.
Right from the start it was clear Sawicki had her mind set, not just on winning, but destroying the field. After the opening 10-miles section in Round Valley Sawicki had a solid lead sitting just outside the top-10 in the men’s field. By aid station #1 she had moved into 5th in the men’s field. It was already clear, despite a catastrophic failure, Sawicki was having a phenomenal day.
Heather Holmes and Amanda Carey in Round Valley
Behind the leader Amanda Carey rode a strong race. Spending much of her time with Kenda/Tomac/Hayes teammate Heather Holmes who just returned from representing the USA at the Marathon World Championships. This time Holmes was racing in the Duo Women’s team event.
As Carey established herself in second she was surprised with her good form considering she has stopped training for endurance events and already turned her training toward the cyclocross season.
Holley and Looney summited the Bald Mountain within sight of each other while Kaufmann was already falling on hard times. She would eventually be forced from the race after suffering three flat tires in the first half of the race.
Women's winner Pua Sawicki
At the front Sawicki hammered on showing why she is undeniably the best female endurance racer in the United States. She handled huge climbs, slick bridges, miles and miles of tight singletrack, and bomber rocky downhills without a problem. As she started the final climb of the day the race leader still sported a huge smile. Sawicki finally crossed the finish line with an astounding time of 7.34.16, a time that would have placed her 5th in the men’s category.
Amanda Carey stayed strong to finish second with a blown fork, which she described as riding a “mullet bike, business up front and party in the rear.”
After the mid-way point KC Holley seemed to find her legs and immediately started to put time on Looney. She crossed the line just under 9 hours with Looney just 13 minutes behind after having a hard crash on the Crescent Mine Grade descent.
All racers were treated to a tremendous prize list with the Open categories receiving $3,200 in prize money with equal pay out for the men and women.
Race Notes
Participants in the race were treated to one of the best post race raffles in mountain bike history with thousands of dollars in gifts from Ergon, Skull Candy, Ground, Trek, Hammer Nutrition, Kuhl, Northwave, Squirt Lube, Rossignol, The Canyons, Scrub Components, and Carborocket.
Open Men
1, Alex Grant (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 7.04.01
2, Bart Gillespie (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 7.12.34
3, Chris Holley (Gary Fisher/Subaru) 7.24.21
4, Kevin Day (Kuhl/Scott) 7.28.44
5, Brandon Firth (Rocky Mountain) 7.45.14
6, Yuki Saito (Topeak/Ergon) 7.46.47
7, Brandon Cross (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 7.59.21
8, Chris Peters 8.00.00
9, Ryan Ashbridge (Revolution/Peak Fasteners) 8.06.19
10, Tom Bender 8.12.15
11, Peter McMullin (Revolution/Peak Fasteners) 8.19.25
12, Jeff Kerkove (Topeak Ergon) 8.36.51
13, Tim Lewin 8.47.02
14, Eric Jeppsen 8.57.26
15, Mitchel Peterson (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 9.05.27
16, Steve Elmer 9.27.26
17, Darrell Finlayson 9.41.27
Open Women
1, Pua Sawicki (Ellsworth)
2, Amanda Carey (Kenda/Tomac/Hayes) 8.14.06
3, KC Holley (Gary Fisher/Subaru) 8.51.29
4, Sonya Looney (Topeak/Ergon) 9.05.29
Local legend, Cris Fox, hands out wads of cash on the PCP2P course. While dressed as Raggedy Ann
