Nash triumphs at CrossVegas

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Katerina Nash (Luna) won CrossVegas in emphatic fashion Wednesday evening for her third victory in four years at the Desert Breeze Soccer Complex.

Nash soloed clear of the field shortly after the midpoint of the 40-minutes race, while Lea Davison (Specialized) repeated her 2012 runner-up result by pipping Nash's teammate Catharine Pendrel (Luna) for second place at 18 seconds.

"I didn't really attack," said Nash. "I somehow got a gap. I just wanted to keep the pace really high. I wanted the front group to get smaller. The pace was not super high. Meredith [Miller] was really active and was helping out but no one else was interested in helping.

"I missed racing CrossVegas last year because I was injured," added Nash. "I was standing here drinking a beer. I thought that this was kind of fun, but racing is a lot better. It feels great to be back."

Once Nash broke the elastic the gap between her and the Davison/Pendrel chase group grew steadily from five to 20 seconds while Meredith Miller (Cal Giant Berry Farms-Specialized) followed in the battle for fourth with Gabby Day (Rapha-Focus), Kelli Emmett (Giant Bicycles) and Chloe Woodruff (Crankbrothers Race Club).

"Katerina was inching away from me and I was trying to claw my way back," said Davison. "At first it was seven seconds and I thought I was still in there. Then it went to 10 and 20 seconds and I was then thinking 'okay, we are now racing for second'.

"I never gave up because you never know what's going to happen. She was simply the stronger rider tonight. Hat's off to Katerina. It was very cool today because it was three mountain bikers battling."

In the last lap finale Davison sprinted in ahead of Pendrel for second to notch her second runner-up finish in as many years while Miller took the four-rider sprint for fourth at 36 seconds.