Kate Courtney wins the junior women's 15-16 cross country national championship(Image credit: Whole Athlete - Specialized Cycling Team)
Dario Fredrick and Will Curtis(Image credit: Whole Athlete - Specialized Cycling Team)
Whole Athlete-Specialized Cycling Team coaches Julia Violich, Dario Fredrick and Helene Drumm(Image credit: Whole Athlete - Specialized Cycling Team)
The Marin, California-based Whole Athlete-Specialized Cycling Team was handed one of its most important wins to date. It was named "Mountain Bike Club of the Year" for 2011 by USA Cycling.
As one of the top junior development programs in the United States, team Whole Athlete-Specialized provides coaching, training support, bike fitting, nutritional counseling, sport psychology, and skills training to top-level athletes, including two of Marin's junior national champions: Lucas Newcomb and Kate Courtney.
Newcomb, 16, of Nicasio, California, is the reining junior men's 15-16 cross country national champion after earning his first national title. Courtney, 16, of Kentfield, California, is the current junior women's 15-16 cross country junior national champion for the second straight year.
2011 has proven to be an exceptional year for Whole Athlete-Specialized, which claimed 71 victories and seven national titles overall. And in its three years as a team, it has always qualified riders to the US world championship teams.
"It's truly an honor to be recognized as 'Mountain Bike Club of the Year', and even more so to have the opportunity to work with such dedicated young athletes, sharing in their collective development and success," said Team Founder and Director Dario Fredrick.
The Whole Athlete-Specialized Cycling Team forges on with plans for a national-level race schedule again in 2012.
