The inaugural Dirty Kitten Gravel Race in Virginia hosted by Vanderkitten-Entourage Racing and CFH Adventures and Events put a unique spin on gravel with a lap-based route almost completely on private property.
The event took place on the land of the Locust Hill Farm and Preserve in Rapidan, a 5,000-acre property at the base of Cedar Mountain in the Shenandoah foothills. Located about 90 miles southwest of Washington D.C., the venue allowed gravel enthusiasts the opportunity to escape the Beltway and take on a tough gravel challenge.
With 90% of the route on private property, promoters Alex Forte and Chris Howell were able to create a course that was almost exclusively gravel and off-road terrain. The 20-mile lap included wooded doubletrack, a sweeping network of pastoral farm roads and other types of mixed terrain. With no car traffic to worry about, the only creatures around were often cows and other livestock.
Riders come and go on the Dirty Kitten route all on private property. © Bruce Buckley
The Dirty Kitten Gravel Race started in 2018 as a non-competitive gravel fondo, so 2019 marked its first as an official gravel race.
The event offered three distances for riders of all skill levels. The Mini Purrito featured 1 lap of the 20-mile course, the Regular Purrito 2 laps and the Full Purrito 3 laps and 60 miles.
Over 230 riders started the 2019 Dirty Kitten Gravel Race. Impressively, the field was made up by just under a third women.
The Women’s Full Purrito race was a nailbiter, with winner Britt Mason taking the top spot by 1.3 seconds. Ellen Tarquino finished second and Cynthia Frazier third, with Jen Tillman and Simona Vincenciova rounding out the wide-angle podium.
Men’s winner was Patrick Blair. Dave Weaver and Richard Serton joining him on the podium. Curtis Alia and Todd Meister joined them on the wide-angle podium.
Full Full Purrito results are below. Results for all distances are also available online. More race photos are available from Bruce Buckley.
Women Full Purrito Results: 2019 Dirty Kitten Gravel Race
| Place | First | Last | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Britt | Mason | 3:50:28 |
| 2 | Ellen | Tarquinio | 3:50:29 |
| 3 | Cynthia | Frazier | 4:07:23 |
| 4 | Jen | Tillman | 4:21:52 |
| 5 | Simona | Vincenciova | 4:25:04 |
| 6 | Sarah | Williams | 4:33:23 |
| 7 | Rebecca | Auyer | 4:34:42 |
| 8 | Patty | Fulton | 4:36:16 |
| 9 | Juliana | Perkins | 4:36:39 |
| 10 | Melissa | Tallent | 4:43:16 |
| 11 | Francine | Rapp | 4:49:48 |
| 12 | Annie | Renaud | 4:51:26 |
| 13 | Andrea | Miller | 4:52:44 |
| 14 | Sharon | Maloid | 4:57:02 |
| 15 | Ana | Broyles | 5:02:01 |
| 16 | Natalie | Chwalisz | 5:02:56 |
| 17 | Elizabeth | Herlevsen | 5:14:39 |
| 18 | Rosalind | Hain | 5:15:34 |
| 19 | Lisa | Young | 5:19:19 |
| 20 | Crystal | Richardson | 5:19:36 |
| 21 | Laura | Farabaugh | 5:19:53 |
| 22 | Jill | Pagliei | 5:24:42 |
| 23 | Stacey | Bran | 5:29:39 |
| 24 | Tina | Wagner | 5:42:21 |
| 25 | Cheryl | Moses | 5:44:56 |
| 26 | Amanda | Laclair | 5:50:04 |
| 27 | Lorene | Davidson | 5:51:23 |
| 28 | Emily | Watts | 5:51:29 |
| 29 | Catherine | Gibbons | 5:57:53 |
| DNF | Suzan | Falvey | |
| DNF | Jennifer | Pope | |
| DNF | Katherine | Hewitt | |
| DNF | Meganne | Huett | |
| DNF | Rachel | Murdock | |
| DNF | Michelle | Rindos | |
| DNF | Laurie | Lemieux | |
| DNF | Casey | Bailey | |
| DNF | Amanda | Wolf | |
| DNF | Lauren | Peterson | |
| DNF | Emily | Ward | |
| DNF | Sheila | Mahadevan | |
| DNF | Carolyn | Wilson | |
| DNF | Mary | Schmerge | |
| DNF | Susan | Kelleher | |
| DNF | Gisela | Bell | |
| DNF | Annemarie | Mountjoy |
Men Full Purrito Results: 2019 Dirty Kitten Gravel Race
| Place | First | Last | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patrick | Blair | 3:26:38 |
| 2 | Dave | Weaver | 3:28:53 |
| 3 | Richard | Serton | 3:32:48 |
| 4 | Curtis | Alia | 3:34:01 |
| 5 | Todd | Meister | 3:34:57 |
| 6 | Nelson | Daniel | 3:36:19 |
| 7 | Brian | Weightman | 3:36:31 |
| 8 | Kinzer | Hewitt | 3:43:52 |
| 9 | Hans | Lellelid | 3:45:40 |
| 10 | Ken | Bell | 3:45:42 |
| 11 | Patrick | Hampton | 3:45:53 |
| 12 | Christopher | Crane | 3:47:06 |
| 13 | Charles | Parmain | 3:47:36 |
| 14 | Steve | Simmons | 3:47:43 |
| 15 | Nathan | Murray | 3:51:09 |
| 16 | Joshua | Armstrong | 3:54:52 |
| 17 | Frederic | Stutzman | 3:57:41 |
| 18 | Brian | Shields | 4:00:18 |
| 19 | Francisco | Covas | 4:00:54 |
| 20 | Pablo | Bachelet | 4:01:06 |
| 21 | Matt | Williams | 4:03:02 |
| 22 | John | Gray | 4:03:40 |
| 23 | Nick | Turner | 4:04:02 |
| 24 | James | Price | 4:05:10 |
| 25 | Marc | Gwadz | 4:09:16 |
| 26 | Shannon | Field | 4:10:05 |
| 27 | Lucas | Beirne | 4:10:42 |
| 28 | John | Caulway | 4:12:11 |
| 29 | Peter | Custer | 4:15:02 |
| 30 | Sean | Chisham | 4:18:19 |
| 31 | Peter | Warner | 4:19:08 |
| 32 | Jan | Feuchtner | 4:19:19 |
| 33 | Michael | Pusey | 4:19:23 |
| 34 | Tim | Jessilonis | 4:20:23 |
| 35 | Matthew | Conte | 4:20:28 |
| 36 | Brian | Rowe | 4:20:34 |
| 37 | Greg | Harkins | 4:21:41 |
| 38 | James | Bumbaugh | 4:21:42 |
| 39 | Gabriel | Murray | 4:24:24 |
| 40 | Chris | Kolster | 4:26:02 |
| 41 | Dane | Paris | 4:30:21 |
| 42 | Chris | Houck | 4:31:57 |
| 43 | Norman | Kreiselmeier | 4:32:25 |
| 44 | Peter | Lindeman | 4:32:39 |
| 45 | David | Thornton | 4:32:56 |
| 46 | Geoffrey | Goodman | 4:33:10 |
| 47 | Caleb | Williams | 4:33:27 |
| 48 | George | Lewis | 4:33:49 |
| 49 | Bruce | Mort | 4:40:39 |
| 50 | Mark | Kavanagh | 4:44:28 |
| 51 | William | Sanders | 4:45:18 |
| 52 | Stephane | St-gelais | 4:45:44 |
| 53 | Brad | Hawk | 4:46:21 |
| 54 | Travis | Siehndel | 4:47:14 |
| 55 | Felix | Milner | 4:47:15 |
| 56 | Albert | Greene | 4:49:55 |
| 57 | David | Hunter | 4:53:03 |
| 58 | Thomas | Nelson | 4:54:44 |
| 59 | Brian | Howell | 4:54:44 |
| 60 | Linus | Owens | 4:56:28 |
| 61 | Jason | Acuna | 4:59:45 |
| 62 | Zack | Murphey | 5:02:08 |
| 63 | Bryan | Findley | 5:10:21 |
| 64 | Scott | Siegel | 5:11:14 |
| 65 | Alvin | Weeks | 5:14:39 |
| 66 | Stephen | Petrie | 5:15:33 |
| 67 | Daniel | Cox | 5:16:20 |
| 68 | Joseph | Coyne | 5:16:23 |
| 69 | George | Branyan | 5:17:47 |
| 70 | Bill | Batchelor | 5:19:28 |
| 71 | Josh | Watkins | 5:19:42 |
| 72 | John | Hoyt | 5:22:57 |
| 73 | Christopher | Soova | 5:23:44 |
| 74 | Michael | Faber | 5:24:21 |
| 75 | Pete | Wolfe | 5:26:50 |
| 76 | Larry | Paris | 5:27:20 |
| 77 | Mark | Mervine | 5:29:59 |
| 78 | Robert | Anaya | 5:34:52 |
| 79 | Peter | Gissiner | 5:37:27 |
| 80 | Jason | Dunaway | 5:39:54 |
| 81 | Ronald | Hickman | 5:42:13 |
| 82 | Jed | Dinger | 5:48:08 |
| 83 | Aisaku | Pradhan | 5:54:55 |
| 84 | Steve | Boutilier | 5:56:10 |
| 85 | Scott | Rudy | 6:02:04 |
| 86 | Hakeem | Ayornu | 6:02:55 |
| DNF | Bob | Gundry | |
| DNF | Thori | Wolfe | |
| DNF | Scott | Russell | |
| DNF | Gene | Fuller | |
| DNF | Larz | Conwell | |
| DNF | Eric | Shepard | |
| DNF | Larry | Miller | |
| DNF | Pierce | Schmerge | |
| DNF | Shane | Karr | |
| DNF | Scott | Thompson | |
| DNF | Eric | Crandell | |
| DNF | Brandon | Cogswell | |
| DNF | Jon | Markiewicz | |
| DNF | Jake | Smith | |
| DNF | Michael | Faber | |
| DNF | Jeff | Lemieux | |
| DNF | Michael | Scardaville | |
| DNF | Mark | Simms | |
| DNF | Patrick | Digiulian | |
| DNF | Michael | Hargett | |
| DNF | Joshua | Davis | |
| DNF | Robert | Ernst | |
| DNF | Jerry | Hadley | |
| DNF | Jay | Korff | |
| DNF | Richard | Wiegert | |
| DNF | Jonathan | Dyke | |
| DNF | Rodney | Rodgers | |
| DNF | Eric | Baker | |
| DNF | David | Borden | |
| DNF | Pete | Van riper |
