To accompany Cyclocross Magazine‘s recent live coverage of the U.S. National Championships, we ran two contests in conjunction with Edge Composites and Raleigh USA that had ‘cross fans from coast-to-coast – and even abroad – clamoring for sweet prizes.
Edge Composites 65's Carbon Tubular Wheelset
First was our wheel give away courtesy of Edge Composites. Edge helped to sponsor our live coverage and offered up a set of ultra-zoot Edge 65 carbon tubular cyclocross wheels to one lucky winner.
In order to take home the prize, participants needed to follow along with our play-by-play coverage and be ready to correctly answer a series of questions in our Cowbell forums. At the tail end of the Elite Men’s race, we asked participants to name three women and three men in the Elite races using Edge Composites products and to list which products that each uses.
A flurry of about 65 people rapidly posted their responses in a manner of minutes, showing off their knowledge of the widespread usage of Edge products in the Elite races. But it wasn’t without controversy – Anna Young’s absence combined with Helen Wyman being British derailed some potential would-be winners. Other typos and miscues led to contestants editing their answers – which altered the time stamp and moved them further down the pecking order. We analyzed the hanging chads, consulted WADA, and recounted our recounts. In the end, Aaron Robnett delivered the goods. His answer, which he posted within two minutes of the question:
Jonathan Page, Wheels
Ryan Trebon, Fork
Barry Wicks, Fork
Amy Dombroski, Tubing
Linda Sone, Wheels
Kristin Wentworth, Wheels
We have a winner! Aaron is the proud new owner of a set Edge 65’s, a $2399 carbon tubular wheelset weighing a scant 1260 grams. He’s a relative newcomer to the Cowbell community, just stumbling across it and our live coverage during the Portland USGP races two weeks ago.
We’re happy to hear that the wheels won’t just be another set to add to a fat existing quiver. Aaron describes himself as a “semi-broke college student” from Iowa City, Iowa.
“I mostly race mountain bikes during the season. I start pretty early with a couple of longer endurance type mountain bike events and then move into the normal elite distance races of around two to three hours,” said Robnett. “This season was my first full season racing mountain bikes and I upgraded to expert/Cat 1 to get more miles for my money. It ended up working out and I did better than expected. I usually race on singlespeed, but am gonna give gears a shot this coming season,” he continued. “Maybe that is the opposite I need to do for cross; I need to try racing singlespeed. As far as ‘cross goes, I am a mid-pack cat3 at best. The 45-minute-long effort is way hard for me to cater to, but I just need to get some more races under my legs. I’ve done about seven to ten events over the past three to four seasons.”
The new wheelset should spark a fire under Robnett and add some giddyup to his Trek XO-2 rig built up with Campy Chorus nine-speed.
Raleigh High Life Singlespeed Cyclocross Frame
Contest number two was for a super-sweet Raleigh High Life singlespeed frameset. Raleigh, another sponsor of our live coverage, generously donated the prize for whomever Cyclocross Magazine judged to be the best contributor of photos and/or videos from U.S. Nationals. Most entries came from folks at the events, but several others got creative and put together mash-ups of materials they found on our website.
Dombroski gave blood in pursuit © Matt Haughey
After sifting through a slew of photo and video entries, the panel of judges awarded the frameset to Matt Haughey. See a selection from his Nationals photo coverage in the gallery at the bottom of the page. Haughey describes himself as a “Portland-area ‘cross guy in my third season still sticking it out in the Beginner and C classes.”
“I shoot photos after my races, I’ve been collecting some good gear and getting lots of practice panning and using remote flashes at the local Portland events,” said Haughey. “I also co-founded a team at BuyLocalCycling.com, where we try to ride on all locally-sourced parts.”
Haughey looks forward to rocking the Oregon singlespeed class on his new Raleigh High-Life and plans to deck it out with a quality local build.
Other worthy video entries included the barrier mishap POV by Yakima and Dale Riley’s Masters 40+ B race “Crash Hill” video.
Thanks again to our great sponsors Edge Composites, Raleigh USA, Blue Competition Cycles and Planet Bike for making our live coverage possible and for Edge and Raleigh donating these tremendous prizes. Congrats to our winners and thanks to everyone for tuning into our live National Championships coverage and for entering. Get ready for Bend in 2010!
Matt Haughey’s Photo Gallery:
