Gabby Durrin and Jeremy Powers Take StarCrossed Wins – Updated: Full Results, Gallery

Gabby Durrin took the lead and didn’t look back at StarCrossed. © Robert Grunau

by Robert Grunau

StarCrossed returned as a UCI race this year and several of US cyclocross’s top riders were on hand at the race, which took place at Marymoor Velodrome, just a short drive from Seattle out in Redmond, WA. With less than a week to go until CrossVegas, the race was a good indicator of who is holding some early season form.

Gabby Durrin (neé Day) (Rapha-Focus) took top honors on the dry bumpy course, after distancing herself from three-woman group containing Bellingham, WA, native Courtney McFadden (Bicycle Blue Book, HRS, Rock Lobster) and Canada’s Mical Dyck (Stan’s NoTubes) at the race’s mid-point. McFadden and Dyck were the only ones who could follow in the race’s early stages, but in the end, Durrin’s attacks were too much. Durrin crossed the line with a healthy thirty-second gap over McFadden.

The men’s race played out a bit differently, with the lead changing nearly every lap. Raleigh-Clement’s Ben Berden was the early instigator and held on with a lead group containing Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus), Ryan Trebon (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) and National Champion Jonathan Page (Fuji/Competitive Cyclist).

Powers and Trebon were able to distance themselves from Berden and Page, who stuck close together after Page shut door on the Belgian as he was attempting to hop the barriers on the fourth lap.

Powers and Trebon carried a large gap through the last lap, with Powers taking the victory against Trebon after gapping him at the stairs and using that gap to best him in a two-up sprint down the course’s final stretch. Berden was able to drop Page on the last lap, giving the Belgian the third step of the podium.

After the race Powers complemented Berden on his barrier hopping skills, to which “Big Ben” replied, “I spent all summer practicing.”

Some race notes from StarCrossed 2013:
The race featured a rematch of the top three from the 2013 Raleigh Midsummer Nights Cyclocross Race, with the top three from the July race finishing in reverse order in Seattle, with Berden third, Page fourth, and Decker fifth. It was a small bit of revenge for Page, who of course would have preferred to win, but finished one place ahead of Decker, who was racing a cyclocross bike (as required by UCI regulations).

JT Fountain was racing his singlespeed within the top ten before suffering a mechanical and finishing an impressive 13th place.

Missing from the Elite Men’s race was 2013 Junior National Champion Logan Owen, who will race with the U23 and Elites this year.

Most of the top male racers were on disc brakes, due to either sponsor requirements or personal choice.

StarCrossed 2013 Elite Men Results

StarCrossed 2013 Elite Women Results