Sunshine Juniors

Race Report and Results - Sunshine Hill climb, Boulder, CO - Vic's Espresso Juniors
Cat 4- Zack Gould
Cat 3- Alden Lowney, Brandon Henry
Author-Burt Henry

With no junior cats, the juniors all raced in their respective categories.

There were some scoring problems at the race. I was at the top when Zack sprinted for the line. He told me that he was around 56 minutes. An excellent time for a junior just turning 14 this year! Unfortunately he was not listed with the finishers. That's OK Zack, we've got your back and know you were there.

In the Cat 3's, this according to Brandon, the pace the first couple of miles was pretty calm. Alden and Brandon stayed near the front watching local junior phenom Yannick Eckman. On the steeps Alden lost contact, while Brandon was about 10 meters behind Yannick near the top before the downhill. Unfortunately, when he shifted to sprint up, Brandon dropped his chain and never caught on.

He hit the dirt in 4th with Alden close behind. Brandon says he was frustrated on the steep dirt as he couldn't get out of the saddle for his punchy climbing style that he likes. He was passed by a couple of riders as he tried to figure out the nuances of dirt riding (he has never ridden off road). Alden evidently got a text on his phone on this section. It is unknown if this was a girlfriend or his mom checking on him, or if he answered it.

Anyway Brandon came in for a nice 6th place finish in 47:25, while Alden finished somewhere 10th-13th between 48:20-48:40 (We don't know where because the official results had Alden 3rd. Another rider had Alden't number on also. My guess is that rider wore his crit number. Alden left and was unaware of the mixup). Yannick won by over a minute, and with multiple cat 3 stage wins at Gila, he will be a 2 any day now.

To put these fine rides and times in perspective, Jimi Gibson won my 45+ field in 47:56. Brandon shaved an incredible 15 minutes off of his time from 2007, and Alden 7 minutes from 2008. Do the math on Zack's fine time at age 14, and it's going to be fun watching the progression.

It should be noted that BMCT junior alum Scott Tietzel finished 3rd in the pros for a second year in a row in a stacked field!