When most students slept, talked on their cell phones about MTV’s TRL, or went to the University Mall for new pseudo-UGG boots, the UVM Cycling team prepared for Eastern Championships. They prepared physically and mentally, and built demanding courses to host the riders from the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference. Fifteen teams from around the North East traveled to Bolton Valley resort to compete for the event on October 16th& 17th.
In an atmosphere of mud, rain, and cold temperatures that were more conducive for a Girls Gone Wild special, the UVM Cycling team persevered with dominance and all around crowd-pleasing fun. All teams competed in four events: cross country, short track, dual slalom, and downhill. When the points were tallied the UVM team yet again ranked number one. With the long fall season of rough courses and bad weather the UVM mountain squad was yet again dominant.
The team hosts a number of crazy fast riders: Dan Vaillancourt is the overall 04′ ECCC point’s leader and Brooke Scatchard won the Men’s A cross country. The downhill and the dual slalom events cleaned up with riders such as Lee Trumpore (winning dual slalom), Karen Walkerman, Andrew Whiteford, Cyrus House, and many more.
Hosting a race in the ECCC, the event name or theme is a crucial aspect. The event theme, The Bolton Valley Prom, was developed from Jeff Price and Keith Jennings and an accidental trip to the Girl Scouts headquarters. Most teams created unoriginal and generic race themes or titles for example, Pennsylvania Rocks Race weekend, or UMass Assault.
The team is a great venue for humor and laughs, and besides what better ways is there to relive high school than by being crowned the King or Queen of a race event? Some people may not have understood, but they were the creators of lame races and didn’t get a crown or sash.
Eastern Championships was a great event and the result of a lot of hard work. Michael Levine cycling Alumni 04′ was the race promoter and organizer along with his force of right hand men and women (UVM cyclist) completed a stunning weekend of high caliber racing. The team is now headed to Seven Springs, Pennsylvania the weekend of October 29th for the NCCA (National Collegiate Cycling Association) Nationals.
In it’s October 20th on-line issue, USAcycling.org recently mentioned, “Fort Lewis College from Durango, Colo. will fight to defend its title as it faces 2002 winner University of Colorado. The Rocky Mountain rivals can be expected to duke it out all weekend, fighting for this year’s bragging rights. Other strong contenders for the Division I title are east coast powers University of Vermont, Penn State University and West Virginia University.”
