Interviews

1st Place
Pro (Elite)
Senior 19-34
Chris Eatough
Trek/VW East Coast

2nd Place
Pro (Elite)
Senior 19-34
Todd Helmick
Trek/VW East Coast

1st Place
Pro (Elite)
Women
Caitlyn Tuel
Trek/VW East Coast

3rd Place
Elite
Master Men 45+
Andrew McDermott
Wooden Wheels

1st Place
Beginner
Junior 12 &under
Jeffrey Bahnson
Wooden Wheels Racing

2nd Place
Beginner
Senior 1 19-29
Josh White
UBIA

French Creek is a challenging place to ride with sharp rocks and tough climbs…….. now crank the heat up to around 90 degrees and throw in some good old east coast humidity…….and you’ll have an idea of the conditions the racers endured Sunday March 23, 2004 for the French Creek XC - Mid-Atlantic Super Series race #4. The promoters – Brian/Anne Hess & Jay Oleksak did a great job organizing and promoting this event. With their race volunteers they put in over 70 hours of trail maintenance creating new trails for this race. Millennium Sports supplied the electronic timing providing accurate and timely results.

It was a tough game of mild technical climbing in intense heat while trying to maintain your cool on the high speed downhills so that you didn’t pinch flat on the sharp rocks.

In the Pro/Elite race it was all about TREK………. A total sweep of the podium. Chris Eatough – TREK/VW East Coast was first over the line in 2:09:59. Teammate Todd Helmick was second just 43 seconds back with the amazing (Clydesdale weight) David DuVall finishing third. All three of these riders were way out front and rode the rock garden on the third lap in style. When I asked David about the rock garden after the race he wondered what I was talking about as it was almost a non-issue thanks to his dual suspension FUEL 100.

Caitlyn Tuel – TREK/VW East Coast looked cool, calm and collected riding the rock garden on her last lap with no problem. She seemed to be taking things easy the first part of the race, then took off on her last lap and opened up a several minute gap finishing strong. Karen Henry – Team Harrisburg placed second which was quite impressive due to the fact that she ran completely out of water very early on the last lap due to a broken camelback (see Elite pictures). Lacey Gonzalez – Shirks had a problem with the heat but had no intentions of quitting and finished a respectable third.

Kevin Causak – Tailwinds won the Veteran Men 35-44 race in 2:34:46 with Andre Goldstein – Guy’s Racing Club second and David Henry – Team Harrisburg third.

Bill Gentile – Gretnabikes.com took a nasty spill on the first lap but jumped up and came back like Lance Armstrong winning the Elite Men 45+ race by a comfortable margin of almost 4 minutes. Mike Laub – Tailwind was second and Andrew McDermott – Wooden Wheels who turned in his best performance as an Expert (Elite) racer since coming up from Sport placed third.

Here are the fastest Beginner/Junior X/Sport riders from the MASS website:

Beginner: Ben Rainer (unclassified) 57:32 & Alaina Deitz (Club Cedar Bike) 1: 06:09

Junior X: Taylor McClain (Yellow Breeches Racing) 1:51:02

Sport: Mark Bacastow (Bean's Bikes) 1:45:34 & Heather Hansz (unclassified) 2:09:33

Next up for the Mid-Atlantic Super Series race circuit is the Tour De Tykes - Danville, PA JUNE 5, 2004 and Race for Chocolate, Hershey, PA JUNE 19, 2004.