April 20, 2008 (Laguna Seca, Monterey, CA) – Grit was in the air and in the heart – a dry and dusty 60.8km/38-mile cross-country singletrack and fire trails blasted by 30km winds shot Kelli Emmett (USA) Giant out of the pack on the first incline – and she never looked back. Emmitt scored a giant lead of a minute by the first big climb up Ridgeview Hill with lazy sheep and shrieking winds in her wake. Her lead ballooned to more than two minutes by the second lap but one had to wonder if she missed her main competition as many top female pros were competing abroad in Belgium at the UCI MTB World Cup race. Emmett, who placed 3rd on Saturday in the Short Track, also celebrated her 31st birthday earlier in April!

Three of the top six finishers were powered by Sobi: Jenna Zander (2nd), Kathy Sherwin (3rd), and Emily Van Meter (4th). Lea Davison (Trek) – Sea Otter’s double winner – came in 5th.

Two Canadians, Emily Batty (Trek Store Toronto) and Catherine Vipond (Norco) were in the tight group of 12 up their first climb, but something happened along the way to the Ridgeview rise, some 55 minutes later on the dirt. Eight of the original 12 were still together, but race leader Emmett established a one-minute lead that she would just continue to extend during the race. Batty dropped back from 5th to 6th, which she maintained through the the finish, about 10 minutes behind the winner. Vipond fell back from her initial 7th place to 31st at 14 minutes behind the leader, showing frustration and dirt on her face.

Fellow Canadian Jean Ann McKirdy (Rocky Mountain) made her move in the second lap, moving into 8th, which she maintained through her finish two minutes behind Batty. Danelle Kabush (Luna), among the last group of five early in the race, moved up well, and finished 21st. Canadian Mary-Ellen Ash (Testarossi), who claims Menlo Park, CA. as her home, rounded up the maple leaf group in 27th place. Two Canadians, Melanie McQuaid (BMC, who beat Emmitt yesterday in the Short Track placing second) could not find her rhythm today along with Kaitlin Michener (Arrow) as both did not finish. Altogether, 41 women started the course and 36 finished.

World Champ Martinez Glides to Victory at Sea Otter

France’s Miguel Martinez (Look) brought two things with him today – his beautiful wife, Laurence, and his good luck cross, glued to his bike. Like any multi-World Champion, “Lil Mig” did the jig all over the Laguna Seca hills Pro X Country course to cruise in comfortably at 2:21:30 – a full 3.25.7 minutes faster than yesterday’s pro Short Track winner, Sam Schultz (USA) Subaru-Trek. The weather has been a huge factor in the past few days with the fog and cold weather and high winds but today it was sunshine and relative warmth – until they climbed into another nasty wind chill factor.

Martinez recounted, “I attacked during the second pass through the technical part of the course. Then I left the pack of six without looking back, it was a good moment to surprise the field after all the technical twisties, so I hit the pedals and didn’t let up.”

Martinez did let up once, pausing atop the highest point, the mercilessly windy Ridgeview hill, to look back with a big smile showing no signs of suffering the high winds, chill factor – or competition. Martinez’ command for more than 32km/20 miles was so complete that the other riders decided not to group and attack, but splintered into solo efforts without any success on Martinez or each other.

One surprise fallout was Carl Decker (USA) Giant, who stayed in the first group of eight towards the end of the first lap (30.4/19 miles), but faded on the final and second lap, losing over 13 minutes to the leader. Likewise, licorice whip thin Schultz, who won his first Pro race yesterday hung on to second place 14 seconds faster than Sid Taberlay from Kingston Beach, California to round out the top three .

Canada’s Adam Morka (3 Rox Racing) who followed behind Martinez in yesterday’s Short Track Pro finals, was not so lucky today, but maintained an even 6-minute+ margin behind placing a very respectable 6th.

Other Canadians Peter Glassford (Trek), Stephan Widmer (Rocky Mountain) and Eric Batty (Trek Store Toronto), placed 13, 14th and 15th, respectively, about 20 seconds apart while Mike Garrigan (Jetpower), who placed 3rd in the Super D competition on Friday, settled for 29th place on Sunday. Benoit Simard (Specialized) placed 45th, while Mattthew Pazuik (Norco) was 65th, and Jacob McClelland (Arrow) was the final Canadian rider in 71st, at 41:15 behind Martinez.

Results

Elite Women

1. Kelli Emmett (USA) Giant 2:52:58
2. Jenna Zander (USA) 2:17
3. Kathy Sherwin (USA) 04:40
4. Emily Van Meter (USA) 06:48
5. Lea Davison (USA) 07:41
6. Emily Batty (Can) Trek Store Toronto 09:49
7. Amanda Carey (USA) 11:28
8. Jean Ann McKirdy (Can) Rocky Mountain 11:44
9. Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) 14:02
10. Jennifer Gersbach (USA) 14:18
11. Krista Park (USA) 16:12
12. Rebecca Rusch (USA) 16:27
13. Nina Baum (USA) 18:12
14. Carolyn Popovic (USA) 20:58
15. Theresa Richardson (USA) 21:20
16. Maureen Kunz (USA) 21:52
17. Shannon Gibson (USA) 22:22
18. Sara Bresnickzoccni (USA) 22:50
19. Annajean Dallaire (USA) 23:06
20. Chloe Forsman (USA) 23:52
21. Danelle Kabush (Can) Luna 24:16
22. Jana Repulski (USA) 27:06
23. Patty Buerkle (USA) 28:00
24. Catherine Vipond (Can) 28:46
25. Erika Krumpelman (USA) 30:01
26. Melodie Metzger (USA) 31:05
27. Mary-Ellen Ash (Can) 31:15
28. Keren Eckshtein (USA) 31:58
29. Jennifer Tilley (USA) 36:55
30. Jamie Stamps (USA) 41:22
31. Johanna Kraus (USA) 41:23
32. Sonya Looney (USA) 41:56
33. Rachel Throop (USA) 43:52
34. Rebecca Gross (USA) 47:12
35. Christie Pleiss (USA) 49:27
36. Alejandra Carvajal (USA) 01:30

Elite Men

1. Miguel Martinez (Fra) Look 2:21:30
2. Sam Schultz (USA) at 3:25
3. Sid Taberlay (Aus) 03:39
4. Mitchell Peterson (USA) 05:09
5. Federico Ramirez Mendez (Crc) 06:18
6. Adam Morka (Can) 3 Rox Cycling 06:39
7. Chris Sheppard (Can) 06:49
8. Pierre-Yves Facomprez (Fra) 07:13
9. Rotem Ishai (Isr) 08:50
10. Ken Onodera (Jpn) 10:05
11. David Tinker Juarez (USA) 10:05
12. Kenji Takeya (Jpn) 10:15
13. Peter Glassford (Can) 11:27
14. Stefan Widmer (Can) 11:54
15. Eric Batty (Can) 12:13
16. Erik Tonkin (USA) 12:39
17. Ryan Woodall (USA) 13:12
18. Jason Sager (USA) 13:19
19. Carl Decker (USA) 13:29
20. Manuel Prado (CRc) 14:08
21. Chance Noble (USA) 14:20
22. Robert Marion (USA) 14:55
23. Ross Schnell (USA) 15:00
24. Cody Peterson (USA) 15:08
25. Mike Phillips (USA) 15:40
26. Dana Weber (USA) 15:55
27. Tim Olson (USA) 16:02
28. Andy Schultz (USA) 17:31
29. Mike Garrigan (Can) Jetpower 17:47
30. Kevin Smallman (USA) 17:52
31. Mark Santvrbane (USA) 18:00
32. Adam Snyder (USA) 18:28
33. Mitchell Hoke (USA) 18:33
34. Ned Overend (USA) 18:39
35. Chris Peariso (USA) 18:51
36. Brian Ashell (USA) 19:09
37. Jason Moeschler (USA) 19:19
38. Charles Jenkins (USA) 19:33
39. Sean Donovan (USA) 19:42
40. Rolert Herber (USA) 19:44
41. Ben Thompson (USA) 20:17
42. Stephen Ettinger (USA) 20:58
43. David Wiens (USA) 20:59
44. Ryan Trebon (USA) 21:54
45. Benoit Simard (Can) Specialized 22:04
46. Nigel Hill (USA) 22:06
47. Travis Livermon (USA) 22:07
48. Nat Ross (USA) 22:31
49. Aroussen Laflamme (USA) 22:45
50. David Yakaitis (USA) 23:19
51. Tj Woodruff (USA) 24:00
52. Ryan Iddings (USA) 24:18
53. Timothy Madgwick (NZl) 24:18
54. Paul Freiwald (USA) 24:51
55. Kevin Bradford-Parish (USA) 25:47
56. Alex Ryan (USA) 27:31
57. Yuki Saito (USA) 28:50
58. Bryan Fawley (USA) 28:55
59. Nate Whitman (USA) 29:09
60. Charles Pendry (USA) 29:39
61. Chanoch Redlich (USA) 29:51
62. Matt Rotroff (USA) 30:32
63. Michael Raney (USA) 30:46
64. Matthew Paziuk (Can) 32:00
65. Kristopher Holden (USA) 34:08
66. Mike Joos (USA) 34:08
67. Kenny Burt (USA) 35:42
68. Aren Timmel (USA) 36:30
69. Yuri Hauswald (USA) 36:30
70. Steve Kinney (USA) 37:01
71. Jacob Mcclelland (Can) 41:15