As the mornings start to turn brisk and tree leaves slowly turn yellow, the competitive mountain biking season has quickly come to an end. Race Breck hosted its final Summit Mountain Challenge race on Saturday, Aug. 24 — the Breckenridge Classic.
Taking place on a beautiful day in the High Country, competitors lined up their tires near the entrance of the Country Boy Mine before climbing deep into wooded hills that make up the surrounding area. Athletes racing in the long-course race (24.3 miles) were the first to sprint off from the start line before making the climb up French Gulch Road and turning left onto the Humbug Hill Trail.
After cresting the hill, athletes did a big loop around the Prospect Hill area before crossing French Gulch Road and steering towards the finish line at Carter Park. Lakewood’s Liam Gvg was the first athlete to cross the finish line of the long-course race, taking first overall in the pro open men’s race in a time of 2 hours, 1 minute and 1 second. Gvg was followed by Longmont’s Thomas Spannring in second (2:01:54) and Logan Niebur of Golden in third (2:02:46).
Tokyo’s Yuki Ikeda finished in fourth (2:03:00), and Breckenridge’s Jeffrey Kepler took sixth (2:06:07). Leadville’s Clare Hanson was crowned the champion of the pro open women’s race, completing the race in 2:27:40. Hanson was followed by Golden-based rider Maddie Miller in second (2:30:01) and Usha Khanal in third (2:44:51).
Summit County was well represented in the sport .