Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia, was the site of the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships last week with eight local racers competing for a chance to wear the stars and stripes jersey. Six members of the Marshall County High School Mountain Bike Team competed including Jaron Wood, Grant Wilson, Bobby Jones, Clay Austin, Kaden Jameson and Presleigh Jennings plus alumni Bailey Mohler and Carson Beckett.
Throughout the week, riders competing in non championship cross country and 29 championship cross country races, along with the disciplines of short track, enduro, dual slalom and downhill.
Presleigh Jennings raced first on Tuesday, July 18th, in the 6-14 age division dual slalom, taking 1st in that event and competed the next day in the Junior 13-14 cross country race where she placed 5th.
Clay Austin competed on Wednesday in the Men Cat 2/3 15-18 cross country race and placed 20th among 34 riders while former Marshall County team member, Bailey Mohler, competed in the Men’s Cat 2/3 19-24 race, running in the top two before suffering a flat to finish 6th.
Junior Men 15-18 short track took place on Thursday, a field of 50 at the start line with three Marshall County riders among them. The race was won by Caleb Swartz of Madison, Wisconsin, Grant Wilson finished 17th, Bobby Jones 25th and Jaron Wood 30th.
Friday’s rain and fog began three days of wet, muddy and slick course conditions in short track and cross country events. In Junior Women 11-16, Presleigh Jennings crossed the line in 16th and Kaden Jameson placed 17th in the Junior Men 11-14 race in a field of 33. Carson Beckett, riding for Bear Development, lined up in the Pro Men’s short track event in a field of 61 and finished 28th and taking the win was Specialized rider Howard Grotts of Durango, Colorado.
In her third race of the week on Saturday, Presleigh Jennings placed 15th in the Junior Women 13-14 event, won by Tai Lee Smith of Breckinridge, Colorado. Kaden Jameson placed 30th in the Junior Men 13-14 race among a field of 45, won by Wren Powers of Englewood, California.
In Saturday’s Cat 1 Junior Men 15-16 race in a large field of 74 riders at the start, Bobby Jones finished 23rd while Clay Austin suffered a broken chain in the wet, muddy conditions. The race was won by Quinn Simmons of Durango, Colorado.
Rounding out Saturday’s cross country races, in a field of 82 Cat 1 Junior Men 17-18 riders, Jaron Wood finished 32nd and a good race by Grant Wilson was hampered by a bad crash in the ‘rock garden’, but he managed to finish out the race in 69th place.
Sunday marked the final day of competition featuring the Elite races of U23 Men and Women and Pro Men and Women. The U23 Women’s race was won by Clif rider Haley Batton of Park City, Utah and the Men’s U23 race winner was Specialized rider Christopher Blevins of Durango, Colorado. Carson Beckett had a good race going among the top 10 until a second lap flat set him back, battling to finish in 16th.
The Pro Women’s race was won by current U23 World Cup leader and Specialized rider Kate Courtney of Kentfield, California while Howard Grotts, racing for Specialized, won the Pro Men’s race to complete the short track and cross country sweep.
The Pro Women’s downhill was won by Jill Kintner of Bellingham, Washington and Pro Men’s downhill winner was Aaron Gwin of Wildomar, California. Kintner also won the Pro Women’s dual slalom while Mitch Ropelato of Ogden, Utah took the stars and stripes in Pro Men’s dual slalom.
Teri Watts of Athens, Georgia won the Pro/Open 15+ Women’s enduro title and taking the Pro/Open Men’s 15+ title was Seamus Powell of Round Top, New York.
