Logan Owen taking the U23 win. © Steve Anderson
The U23 race was the highlight race yesterday, with Logan Owen taking the win in the first year he’s racing as a U23. This makes Owen’s Nationals winning streak nine in a row. After the race, we caught up with first through fourth place, CalGiant’s Logan Owen, Yannick Eckmann and Cody Kaiser (of stair hop fame), and Cannondale-CyclocrossWorld’s Curtis White.
Logan Owen
On the race… That’s the way I wan to win a race. I want to be out start to finish.
On the win… It was really emotional to be able to win in front of all my family.
On his strategy… I was pretty comfortable. I put in a lot of training. I knew I had the best legs today. I worked hard at this and I was really confident in my self that I’d be able to win. I kept it going and you just can’t look back.
Watch the full interview here:
Yannick Eckmann
On the course… I thought it was a great course, loved it.
On the wind… The wind played a big factor in it too. At the start we had a tail wind going down the home stretch, and then after the first lap you had a head wind going down it.
On his strategy… My strategy was have a good start and then stay up there, see what other people were doing. And then at the end with one or two laps to go just drill it.
On his legs… I knew I had the strength. It was just a matter of fact, when to use it, where to use it. And today I looked like I had to use it from the start because I was so far back.
Watch the full interview here:
Cody Kaiser
On the course… I really enjoyed riding the course so it made it easier. Rather than riding some dirt crit. The course was super rad. Easilly on of the best ’cross courses I’ve raced at Nationals.
On his race… I was able to rally sections that I felt positive in and recover in sections that I didn’t, so I was very comfortable out there, which was good.
On third place… Everyone wants to win of course, but just for the season that I’ve had, especially after last year, just to get on the podium feels great.”
On any team tactics… It was definitely just ‘give it all out there and see where the cards lay.’
Watch the full interview here:
Curtis White
On his strategy… My coach and I had a plan all season long. We were working the plan and I had complete confidence in the plan. It may not have benefited me as much as I had hoped.
On fourth place… I’ll take this as a learning experience. Granted it was a disappointing day but again it’s one race. It means the most but then again you just have to brush it off.
On his opponents… The Cal Giant guys are doing a really good job. They obviously showed it here.
On whether altitude affected his and sister Emma’s performance… This isn’t the last time we’ll be racing at altitude. We don’t know what works, be we know what doesn’t work.
Watch the full interview here:
