New 24-Hour National Champion Eszter Horanyi
written by: Shannon Boffeli
Ask anyone who has raced the 24 Hours of Moab and they will tell you it is the toughest 24-hour race in the country. For the first time in it's 15 year history Moab would be not just the toughest race but the 24-hour national championships as well. The best 24-hour racers would have a chance to prove themselves on the hardest course in North America all with the hopes of becoming National Champion.
The always important solo categories featured a myriad of top riders. In the men's race it was Chris Eatough (Trak Racing Co-Op) making his final start before retiring going up against last year's Moab winner Josh Tostado (Bach Builders), Cannondale riders Jesse Jakomait and Brandon Draugelis, and endurance veterans Evan Plews (evanplews.com) and Ernesto Marenchin (Speedgoat).
Even before the action started riders were falling out of contention. Eatough failed to take the start at noon on Saturday leaving Tostado as the clear favorite for the national title. The defending champ got off to his normally explosive start, plowing through the first lap in a scorching 1.02.47. Someone forgot to tell Colorado rider Kelly Magelky (Trek Racing Co-Op)that Tostado was supposed to win the national title as Magelky hit the finisher's tent with a opening lap of 1.02.43, 4 seconds in front of Tostado.
The leaders were followed by Plews and Draugelis with 21-year old Ben Koenig (Rib Mountain Cycles) and Ernesto Marenchin not far behind.
Magelky kept at it, finishing with faster lap times than Tostado 5 of the next 6 laps. By night fall the Trek rider had built a nice cushion in front of Tostado but that would quickly change. As the lights came out, Tostado started taking big chunks out of the leader, 7 minutes on lap 7, 15 on lap 8, 21 on lap 9. At which point Tostado held a comfortable lead, well in front of the chasers.
At about the same time many of the top riders began to succumb to the punishing Moab course. First it was Brandon Draugelis on lap 7, followed by Plews on lap 8. The youngster Koenig continued to plug along. He turned in consistent lap times all throughout the night moving up spots as other riders dropped out.
In the morning, Magelky still held on to second, recovering from his difficulties over night he once again posted several laps faster than the leader but Tostado's lead was just too much.
Tostado took home his first 24-Hour National Championship, completing 17 laps. Magelky came in for an impressive second with 16 laps as Ben Koenig proved 24-hour racing isn't just for old guys with a third place finish followed by Marenchin and Robert Anderson (Plum Gove Cyclery).
The women's solo event featured the most competitive field in US 24-hour national championship history.
Taking the start were defending National Champion Pua Sawicki (Ellsworth), '08 24 Hours of Moab winner Jari Kirkland (Scott Bikes), and accomplished endurance racers Eszter Horanyi (Walt Works) and Sarah Kaufmann (Titus/Roaring Mouse).
Sawicki put the hammer down right from the start, posting an opening lap time of 1.10.59. Sawicki likes to establish an early lead and it appeared her plan was working brilliantly as Kirkland, Horanyi, and Kaufmann came in together a full 7 minutes back after lap one.
The chase group wouldn't last long as Kirkland crashed hard on lap two and needed to be wheeled off the technical and rocky desert course. Kaufmann and Horanyi managed to stay within minutes of each other throughout the early laps but both were losing minutes to the leader with each circuit.
Once again, as darkness covered the Moab desert, the race began to turn. Sawicki, who was almost 40 minutes clear of the chasers, started to loose momentum. The duo of Kaufmann and Horanyi started reeling her in and by lap 11 both riders passed the defending national champion.
Suddenly the two chasers were battling for their chance at a national championship jersey. Well into the night Horanyi and Kaufmann remained just minutes apart until just before dawn difficulties with her lights forced Kaufmann to post a lap of 2 hours long.
Once taking a solid lead Horanyi refused to look back. Already the winner of grueling races like the Breckenridge 100 and Laramie Enduro Eszter Horanyi was focused on taking the most grueling of all races and a national title to boot.
Horanyi crossed the line for the final time completing 13 laps followed by Kaufmann, the only other women to complete 13 laps. Spring Clegg (Specialized D4W) finished third with Kerry White (Team Type 1)in 4th, both riders completed 12 laps. Sawicki finished 5th with a total of 11 laps completed.
The 15th annual 24-Hours of Moab proved to be a challenging battle ground for deciding the 24-Hour National Championships with strong fields and a punishing course which provided fans with one of the most exciting national championship races in the books.
In the singlespeed solo category, the endurance singlespeed duo of Lynda Wallenfels and Dave Harris proved they are the strongest and perhaps craziest endurance mountain bikers in the U.S. after winning the national titles in the solo singlespeed women's and men's categories. Wallenfels completed 11 laps and had such a large lead she stopped racing at 9:30 Sunday morning. Harris turned out 15 circuits on the desert course.
Wallenfels and Harris modeling their new hardware as singlespeed 24-Hour National Champions
Results:
Solo Women Championship
1, Eszter Horanyi (Walt Works Dream Team) 13 laps
2, Sarah Kaufmann (Roaring Mouse/Titus/Elete) 13 laps
3, Spring Clegg 12 laps
4, Kerry White 12 laps
5, Pua Sawicki (Ellsworth) 11 laps
6, Laureen Coffelt 11 laps
7, Elizabeth Boese 7 laps
8, Timari Pruis 7 laps
9, Monilee Atkinson 6 laps
10, Teri Wahlberg 2 laps
11, Jari Kirkland 1 lap
Solo Men Championship
1, Josh Tostado (Bach Builders) 17 laps
2, Kelly Magelky (Trek Co-Op) 16 laps
3, Ben Koenig (Rib Mountain Cycles) 15 laps
4, Ernesto Marenchin (Speedgoat) 15 laps
5, Robert Anderson 14 laps
6, Andrew Carney 14 laps
7, Jesse Jakomait 13 laps
8, Ezekiel Hersh 13 laps
9, Wade Newsom 13 laps
10, Steve Schwarz 12 laps
11, James Young 12 laps
12, Sampson Bruesewitz 12 laps
13, Matt Woodruff 11 laps
14, Aaron Vanderwaal 11 laps
15, Joseph Fortin 11 laps
16, Matt Juth 10 laps
17, Scott Strode 10 laps
18, Evan Plews 8 laps
19, Eddie O'Dea 8 laps
20, Charly Tri 7 laps
21, Brandon Draugelis 7 laps
22, Jody White 7 laps
23, Chris Strout 5 laps
24, Ray Rasker 5 laps
25, Taylor Lindeen 2 laps
26, Jim Simons 2 laps
Mixed Duo Championship
1, Dax Massey/Rebecca Tomaszewski (Niner/Ergon) 17 laps
2, Mario Corea/Heidi Volpe (Sho-Air) 17 laps
3, Yuki Saito/Sonya Looney (Topeak-Ergon) 12 laps
4, Alan Rishel/Karen Rishel (Light & Motion/First Endurance) 7 laps
Men's Duo Championship
1, Troy Barry/Cary Smith (Grand Targhee Resort) 18 laps
2, Derek Hermon/Ben Bostrom (God's Unit) 16 laps
3, Ely Woody/Romolo Forcino (Rome n Woody) 12 laps
4, Tod Turley/Peter Sullivan (Dead Cow Locals) 11 laps
5, Richard Price/Mike Driver (livetrainrace.com) 9 laps
Women's Duo Championship
1, Gretchen Reeves/Rebecca Rusch (Specialized/Tokyo Joe's) 18 laps
Women's Solo Singlespeed Championship
1, Lynda Wallenfalls
2, Chelsea McGowan
3, Jo Schwartz
Men's Solo Singlespeed Championship
1, Dave Harris
2, Greg Martin
3, Barry Davis
4, Shawn Gregory
5, Randy Sooter
6, Tom Diegel
7, Geoffrey Lane
8, Art Vandaleigh
9, Dough Smith
10, Ben V. Bradford III
