ALPHA CX UPDATE–RUTS N GUTS//NATIONALS CYCLOCROSS TUNE UP

This last weekend marked the final UCI races of the season including the extremely valuable C1 on Saturday. It sufficient to say that

we absolutely dominated Ruts N Guts in Broken Arrow OK against the best on the continent. Between the Men’s and Women’s Elites and our superstar junior Lauren Zoerner racing the Open Cat 1/2 as she readies to defend her National Championship, we had 6 race starts. 5 wins, 1 silver. Plus every Elite earned those oh so valuable UCI points. These results are something we never dreamed of when we launched the program 5 years ago. We earned 257 UCI points this past weekend, with every rider contributing to that total. A far cry from traveling the country earning 0-10 points on an entire weekend just a few years ago. 

Why are we so set on earning those points? Well, in CX they shape the season. For Gage, it now slots him in to the 3rd place UCI ranking in the World! This earns him a solid front row selection at World Championships as we work towards achieving his pre season goal of a World podium. For Katie, she is right on the cusp of breaking in to the Top 50 ELITE Women in the World! Let that sink in a minute. Top 50 in the World at 17 years old. This earns her a automatic World Cup Selection and also will move her up dramatically in the start grid at Worlds as she looks for a Top 10. For Brannan he has worked from narrowly missing the Worlds team to closing in on the Men’s Elite Top 100 and is one of 2 U23 competing at Nationals for an auto selection. For Turner, she continues to fight like hell for the final U23 Worlds team selection. 

This is what it’s all about for our program. A system that is developing young athletes so that they can reach their goals to compete at the highest level of the sport.

We travel to Louisville KY as we tune up for CX Nats this coming weekend.  Brannan and Turner will both line it up in the Collegiate Varsity categories and also the U23 Sunday. Katie looks to earn a simultaneous 17-18 and U23 Jersey, and Gage announced Friday night that he’ll forgo his U23 eligibility to mix it up at the front of the Elite race! Make sure you tune in as my heart rate escalates 50 beats per minute for an entire day.