Yuma Bike Club

North End Classic

March 1st & 2nd

Brought to you by Burgers & Beer and the Yuma Bike Club

We want to thank everyone for participating in the 2008 North End Classic! We want to improve upon this event so please take a moment to give us your feedback, both constructive critisism and the praises are welcome :-)  Please email us with any comments.

Click here to check out the results  | Photo Gallery  (add your photos to ours)

Race Recap

On day one the weather was near perfect, in the high 70’s and low 80’s with no clouds. The day started with a 5K event at 8:00 AM. The course took the runners from the criterium start/finish line, down along the river and finishing in the nearby Gateway park. The run was won by Heath Jabs of Yuma (Yuma Bike Club / Sahara Racing) with a time of 18:40 and Angela Axmann of Flagstaff (Team Schampa) with a time of 19:19. Angela had a great day, picking up prize money for both the Cat III women’s race and the 5K. Wow!

At 8:45 the criterium started with Junior racers – a small group but competitive racing nonetheless. The races continued with the Masters Men and the Masters Women/Cat III’s before noon. At this point spectators started rolling in for the block party and to catch some race action. The weather was teetering on “too hot” by mid day, but fortunately held steady the remainder of the afternoon before cooling off.

As the races continued the competition seemed to ratchet up a notch. Our largest field sizes were between the Men I – V. Those races were packed with action. Each race seemed to go about the same – pain, pain, and a little more pain. But the riders seemed to be handling the course well and the fans were amazed by the speeds!

After a nice break with a kids ride the pro races were underway. Both races brought jaw-dropping speed and gutsy attacks for those precious points. The pro men and women were led out by a sporty Nissan pace car, which seemed to amplify the action each time the car came roaring around the turns trying to stay ahead of the field. It was intense and the fans loved it!

Coming into day two all the talk was about how awesome the crit was. Little did the riders know there were a few surprises in store for them in the road race.

The road race was held about 30 miles East of Yuma in the town of Wellton. A traditionally fast course that’s flat with a slight downhill finish makes for great racing. However, unlike the criterium, the weather turned for the worse. It was a windy day that was probably 15-20 degrees cooler than Saturday. As the day progressed the wind started really cranking it up with gust of 40-45 mph with an occasional sand storm in the mix.

To make matters worse there was a miscalculation in the course distance. In the final weeks of planning it was determined that it’s best to run the road race in two phases and to shorten the loop from 33 miles to 20 miles. Unfortunately the new route was not calculated correctly and the distance was only shortened to 27 miles.

The riders didn’t seem to be phased by the distance at all – when given the option to decrease the course by a lap the pro riders actually opted in for the full distance. With the wind blowing the way it was the riders knew they had a long day ahead regardless of the distance.

Nonetheless the races were spectacular. The competition was fierce. A newspaper photographers comments summed it up well when he said, “I can’t believe after 108 miles that the race was only won by half a wheel.” It goes to show the quality of riders that showed up and how serious they take their racing. It turned out to be a heck of an event!

We appreciate everyone for coming out and making this event a success. We hope you enjoyed your racing in Yuma. We also thank our sponsors, volunteers, race officials, announcers, and race director for the hard work! We’ll see you next year.  

Race  sanctioned  by  USA  CYCLING, Permit  #2008‐360

             
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