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Timmerman and Bruno-Roy win in the mud to start of the Maine Verge weekend
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The New England Championship Cyclo-cross Series made its return to New Gloucester, Maine, Saturday, with the first day of the Downeast Cyclocross Weekend. Racers were greeted with a nagging, persistent rain, deep, slick mud and cold temperatures. Maureen Bruno-Roy (MM Racing p/b Seven Cycles) and Ryan Timmerman (Richard Sachs-RGM-Radix) proved to be the toughest through the storm.
A bit of chaos in the start of the elite women’s race left Bruno-Roy and Amanda Carey (Kenda/trainwitheric.com) chasing from the back. Taking advantage, Natasha Elliott (Garneau/Club Chaussures/Ogilvy), Mary McConneloug (Kenda/Seven Cycles/NoTubes) and Minuteman Road Club riders Andrea Smith and Anna Barensfeld quickly formed a group and opened a gap on the rest of the field. It appeared that there would be a repeat of the first two rounds of the series in Vermont as Elliott began to ride away from the group. Right at home in the mud, Bruno-Roy fought back to reach the chase group and she, McConneloug, Smith and Carey began to put pressure on Elliott.
With some aggressive riding from Bruno-Roy, Smith was dropped from the chase group shortly before they brought back Elliott. Once the catch was made, there was no stopping the mud-loving Bruno-Roy who came into the last set of sloppy off-camber turns with Carey and Elliott on her wheel. She managed to navigate the corners smoothly and put some space behind her as Carey muscled away from Elliott for second.
Timmerman repeats Vermont performance
Unlike the women’s race, the men’s race was, in fact, a repeat of the weekend in Vermont with Dan Timmerman powering away from the field on the first lap, creating a gap of fifteen seconds and never looking back. Behind Timmerman was a serious battle between Luke Keough (Team Champion System) and Derrick St. John (Garneau/Club Chassures/Ogilvy). Behind them was a powerful group with Adam Myerson (Cycle-Smart) and bikereg.com/Joe’s Garage/IF riders Jerome Townsend and Justin Lindine.
With two to go, St. John had faded and it seemed that the podium would be sealed but Josh Dillon (Richard Sachs/RGM/Radix) put on a charge of epic proportions, blowing through seemingly comfortable gaps into third position on the road. As Dillon passed Lindine, there was still a minute up the road to Keough, but Dillon was seeing red and closed into within mere bike lengths at the finish with an emphatic third.
