Costumes and Crashes Characterize USAC ’Cross Racing During Halloween Weekend

Drew Dillman sports a cheerleader costume during Storm the Greens. ©Leslie McShane

Timothy Johnson (Beverly, Mass./ Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) and Laura Van Gilder (Cresco, Penn./C3-Athletes Serving Athletes) extended their USA Cycling Cyclocross National Calendar (CXNC) standings leads after each earned first- and second-place finishes over the weekend.

Johnson, racing in Boulder, Colorado, finished second to teammate Jeremy Powers  (Easthampton, Mass.) on Saturday at the Colorado ’Cross Classic, then took the win on Sunday at the Boulder Cup Cyclocross. Powers, now 50 points behind Johnson in the standings, finished seventh.

The Colorado Cross Classic women’s race was won by Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo./ Planet Bike-Stevens Bikes), who held a large enough lead on the field to overcome a last-lap crash for the victory. After finishing second on Saturday, Georgia Gould (Fort Collins, Colo./ Luna Pro Team) won a crashed-filled Boulder Cup women’s race, which saw Compton crash out of early on.

On Saturday, a crash on the first lap took Van Gilder and much of the field out, clearing the way for her teammate, Deidre Winfield (Charlottesville, VA/C3-Athletes Serving Athletes), to win the Beacon Cross in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Van Gilder, clad in a Storm Trooper-inspired racing kit along with the rest of the C3-Athletes Serving Athletes team, was able to claw her way back to finish second.

The next day at the HPCX in Jamesburg, NJ, Van Gilder outsprinted Winfield at the line to take the win.

Valentin Scherz (SUI/Cyfac-Champion System Racing) won the Beacon ’Cross and HPCX men’s races, moving him up one place to fourth in the CXNC standings.

The current standings of the Cyclocross National Calendar are as follows:

Next up on the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Calendar: the Cycle-Smart International in Northampton, MA, and the Dam Cross Weekend in Los Angeles, CA.