Marko Lalonde on the descent at Jingle Cross Day 2 © Jared Roy
by Jared Roy
IOWA CITY, IA – Even on a beautiful sunny day, the record rains from earlier in the week kept the grounds at Jingle Cross Rock muddy like peanut butter. Riders’ brakes filled with so much mud that the wheels wouldn’t spin and derailleurs were being shred everywhere. Mt. Krumpet was relentless today with a muddy run-up and a treacherous downhill that took many victims.
Miller Time
Meredith Miller of the California Giant Strawberry team took off early in the race and was gone. Her power through the course was unstoppable. Linda Sone (Planet Bike) made a hard charge but couldn’t close the sizable gap. Sone was letting it all loose on the muddy downhill of Mt. Krumpet and at one point was headed straight into the woods, nearly hitting a tree, but recovered nicely and held on. Sone and her teammate Kristin Wentworth were together early in the race until a strong Kari Studley of Velo Bella caught and dropped Wentworth. Miller crushed the field for first with Sone taking second and Studely third.
Wells Makes it Two
The Men’s race was stacked with talent today with the Wells brothers, both Lalondes and even Ned Overend showed up to show the youngsters how to do it in the mud.
Todd Wells (Specialized) took the hole-shot followed by Troy Wells (Clif Bar)and the race was on. Ryan Iddings (Lapierre), yesterday’s most aggressive rider, was again mixing it up in the top five and putting on a show as he descended Mt. Krumpet.
On the second lap Todd Wells opened a sizable gap (see video of him descending Mt. Krumpet) and the race for second place was a group of Ryan Iddings, Planet Bike teammates Tristan Shouten and Marco Lalonde, and Brian Matter (Gear Grinder). Iddings would open a gap on the downhill, but Shouten, LaLonde, and Matter would catch back on in the flats. With three to go Lalonde went down on Mt. Krumpet and was left chasing the group.
On the final lap, Shoutan was the only one to take a bike in the pits as Idding and Matter rode on. Iddings then had a mechanical and was forced to run his bike while fixing it. Shoutan and Matter were gone.Marco Lalonde caught and dropped Iddings and was in close pursuit of Shoutan and Matter but ran out of time. It was a two-man sprint between Shoutan and Matter for second. Shoutan won the sprint with Matter filling out the podium. Lalonde rolled in for fourth with Iddings taking fifth. Photos below the results.
See our coverage of Jingle Cross Rock from Friday evening and Sunday.
Full Results:
Elite Women:
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result |
| 1 | Meredith MILLER | USA | 37 | 38:34 |
| 2 | Linda SONE | USA | 38 | 40:21 |
| 3 | Kari STUDLEY | USA | 30 | 41:03 |
| 4 | Kristin WENTWORTH | USA | 31 | 41:14 |
| 5 | Rebecca MUCH | USA | 24 | 41:56 |
| 6 | Kaitlin ANTONNEAU | USA | 18 | 42:08 |
| 7 | Kris WALKER | USA | 49 | 43:14 |
| 8 | Corey COOGAN | USA | 33 | 43:17 |
| 9 | Lisa CURRY | USA | 29 | 44:42 |
| 10 | Marne SMILEY | USA | 28 | 44:59 |
| 11 | Robin WILLIAMS | USA | 31 | 45:13 |
| 12 | Holly KLUG | USA | 39 | 45:23 |
| 13 | Elizabeth WELLIVER | USA | 31 | 51:15 |
| 14 | Megan ELLIOTT | USA | 28 | |
| 15 | Patti KAUFMANN | USA | 52 |
Elite Men:
| 1 | Todd WELLS | USA | 35 | 58:43 | 30 | 30 |
| 2 | Tristan SCHOUTEN | USA | 28 | 1:00:00 | 20 | 20 |
| 3 | Brian MATTER | USA | 32 | 1:00:02 | 15 | 15 |
| 4 | Marko LALONDE | USA | 28 | 1:00:09 | 12 | 12 |
| 5 | Ryan IDDINGS | USA | 26 | 1:00:28 | 10 | 10 |
| 6 | Jake WELLS | USA | 32 | 1:02:41 | 8 | 8 |
| 7 | Mitch HOKE | USA | 22 | 1:02:55 | 6 | 6 |
| 8 | Alex HOWES | USA | 22 | 1:03:03 | 4 | 4 |
| 9 | Edmund OVEREND | USA | 36 | 1:03:08 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | Jack HINKENS | USA | 19 | 1:03:42 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | James LALONDE | USA | 25 | 1:04:10 | ||
| 12 | Scott MCLAUGHLIN | USA | 41 | 1:04:12 | ||
| 13 | Ryan KNAPP | USA | 26 | 1:04:17 | ||
| 14 | Chris HURST | USA | 20 | 1:04:48 | ||
| 15 | Jesse RIENTS | USA | 33 | 1:05:19 | ||
| 16 | Kevin MCCONNELL | USA | 29 | 1:05:53 | ||
| 17 | Ben POPPER | USA | 28 | 1:07:11 | ||
| 18 | Shadd SMITH | USA | 39 | 1:07:40 | ||
| 19 | Josh JOHNSON | USA | 34 | 1:07:40 | ||
| 20 | Jeff WINKLER | USA | 42 | 1:09:05 | ||
| 21 | Michael HEMME | USA | 31 | 1:10:05 | ||
| 22 | Mathew ALLEN | USA | 29 | 1:11:21 | ||
| 23 | Adam MILLS | USA | 31 | |||
| 24 | Jacob HELMBRECHT | USA | 34 | |||
| 25 | David QUIST | USA | 39 | |||
| 26 | Teodoro RAMOS | USA | 34 | |||
| 27 | David SACHS | USA | 29 | |||
| 28 | Logan VONBOKEL | USA | 21 | |||
| 29 | Bill STREET | USA | 25 | |||
| 30 | Spencer HAUGH | USA | 32 |
Marko Lalonde on the descent at Jingle Cross Day 2 © Jared Roy
Ned and the Grinch. © Jared Roy, from live mobile updates
The women's podium: Miller, Wentworth and Studley
The men's podium: Todd Wells, Tristen Shouten, Brian Matter
