The day started around 6am with rider registration wrapping through the parking lot and venders getting set to support the largest crowd to date! It was awesome to see the rows of tents and vehicles lining up across Vail Lake Resort. At 8:30 the racer meeting was in full effect. Everyone milling around, anxious to get things started! Once the siren sounded the parade lap was underway, we made our way through the campground and back towards the start line. The race was up and rolling!
The next order of the day was the crowning of the King and Queen of the mountain. These are the first male and female riders to make it to the top of the dreaded Damn Climb. There was a solid pack of riders making the lead ascent. Normally the King of the mountain is taken by a super fast team rider who has time to recuperate on the next lap. But in true hard core fashion solo rider Mike Hileman gapped the field and took the title and cash. Not far behind was the always super fast lady rider Allison Mann. Allison and Natasha Hernday did battle all the way up the climb with Allison taking home the cash and title of Queen of the Mountain!
The weather was perfect all day, with sunny skies and a cool breeze blowing around 65 degrees. Racers were settling in and turning some great lap times. The fastest male lap of the day was Super D champion and super fast guy Eric Bierman with a 43 minute lap. There was a tie for the fastest ladies of the day. The time was so close we decided to award Allison Mann and Karen Lundgren with the fastest womens lap. Their lap times were 51 minutes! Everyone seemed to be on fire out their. I was on course all day cheering folks on and it was amazing to see the effort and dedication these riders were putting on. I was proud to be a part of a great race.
As the day wound down and night time creeped in it was time for the night riding. About 5pm everyone hooked up lights and the game faces were on. There was only 4 more hours to pull out and upset victories. When night fell the stars came out and the atmosphere heated up. There was a lot of excitement in the pits. I think it was a combination of heated racing and wanting to be done. Up on course, it was a truly awesome site to see the constant row of lights dancing across the ridgelines. One after the other the racers made their way to the home stretch.
Tired and ready to end the day the 9 o’clock hour rolled around and the 2009 12 Hours Of SoCal Endurance Championships were in the books. It was now time to award the winners of the day's event and crown the Overall Champions of 2009. A great day was had by all and the memories of the year will last a lifetime. Dez Wilder took the Solo Men's division completing 13 laps followed by Ant White and Allan LaFranboise taking second and third. Manueal Vilaseca was the fastest female racer completing 9 laps to take the win just in front of Stephanie Gudreau who also completed 9 laps. Monique Fletcher took third.
Great job to all who came out this year and supported our events! We appreciate your dedication and support. It is due to you the racers and support teams that these events have become a SoCal mainstay. You all ROCK!!!
For more info and complete results go to www.socalendurance.com
The BMX Mulisha including Mario Corea and Heidi Volpe competed in the singlespeed team division on, you guessed it, BMX bikes
