Tinker Juarez defends Butte 100 title with record time

The 2012 Butte 100 lived up to organizers’ expectations as the fastest to date.

Tinker Juarez (Cannondale Factory Racing) defended his 2011 title by crushing his own previous course record by a whopping 1 hour and 14 minutes. On the women’s side, Lisa Curry’s 100-mile winning time was just minutes behind the overall record.

Juarez, despite coming off races in his previous two weekends, knew finishing times would be fast. “The course was ripping fast today,” Juarez said after the race, “I thought what I did last year I should be able to beat. I knew I could get (my time) under nine hours today.” Juarez’s came across the finish line in a time of 8:22:41.

Giving chase was Calgary’s Jamie Lamb who stayed within 5 minutes of the leader at each checkpoint. In the final fifteen miles, Juarez stretched his lead to 14 minutes. Lamb finished in second place, with a time of 8:36:41 and Ben Parsons (Sportsman & Ski Haus) finished third at 8:46:07. Each of these podium times would have beat the previous course record of 9:36:59 set by Juarez in 2011.

“We knew times were going to be faster, but nothing like this,” said Race Director Gina Evans. “These racers are animals.”

The 50-mile races were dominated by Hammer Nutrition riders who swept the men’s podium, led by Adam Jensen with a winning time of 4:57:31. Rounding out the podium was Ben Ruffatto in second (5:33:04) and Tocatta Spearman in third (6:09:14). Hammer’s Heidi Gaskill took the 50-mile woman’s gold medal in 6:13:37 followed by Jenny Newton and Elie Meierbachtol (Team Hellgate Cyclery/Kent Bros).