Betsy Shogren stands atop the women's podium(Image credit: Joe Polk)
Singlespeed podium(Image credit: Gerry Pflug and Andy Gorksi)
Men's podium(Image credit: Gerry Pflug and Andy Gorksi)
Christian Tanguy (Fraser Cycling) and Betsy Shogren (Cannondale) won round six of the National Ultra Endurance (NUE) series at the Fool's Gold 100 in Georgia.
Tanguy blazed to his win in seven hours and 37 minutes, beating the course record of Jeremiah Bishop by two minutes. Cesar Grajales (Rock Racing) and Chris Eatough (Trek Co-op) finished second and third respectively.
Shogren defeated Brenda Simril (Motor Mile) and co-promoter Namrita O'Dea (Topeak-Ergon) in the women's race.
Racers rode a fast and dry course. Most racers clocked faster times than last year.
Men's race
Chris Eatough, Cesar Grajales, and Christian Tanguy emerged as leaders early in the men's race. On the first of two 50-mile laps, Eatough attacked.
"I wanted to make the race happen," said Eatough, "so I led alot on the first lap. I was trying to take advantage of my strength in the singletrack." He not only lead but also broke away from Tanguy and Grajales.
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"I thought it was one of the tougher NUE courses. It's a continuous course, with no real easy sections for resting. It has lots of singletrack and climbing."
Grajales and Tanguy pulled back Eatough and the three approached the second and final lap together. Grajales was fastest through the 50-mile mark, where he took a handoff to re-stock his supplies, while Eatough and Tanguy stopped briefly to dig in their coolers.
Grajales led into the second lap with a 20-second gap, as the trio set in for a long, 10-mile climb.
"Both those guys are excellent climbers and used their strength to get away from me," said Eatough. "I started feeling the heat on that climb and had to settle in. Those two were off and out of sight."
Tanguy climbed well and eventually caught and passed Grajales and rode solo to the finish for a win and a record-setting time. Grajales was second. Eatough came in third.
Jeff Schalk sat out the race after some knagging knee pain following the Wilderness 101. Schalk presently leads the NUE series with three wins and a second place. Two more races remain, and the best for results for each racer are tallied for the overall standings.
Women's race
Betsy Shogren took off from the start and stayed ahead, riding alone, for the entire time. Behind her, Brenda Simril and Namrita O'dea and a few other women were initially together chasing in second place.
Eventually Simril proved stronger, assuming second spot in the race as she got away from O'Dea in third.
Shogren rode strongly throughout, and although Simril gained a bit on the second of two 50-mile laps, it wasn't enough to change the final standings.
"I was with her up until the first aid station. I kept her in sight until aid station 2," said O'Dea, who was co-promoting the event with her partner Eddie O'Dea in addition to chasing Simril in the race. "Then I came across two crashed riders and I stopped with both of them. I couldn't have just ridden past."
O'Dea also suffered a few mechanicals, but rode nonetheless into third place.
Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
