Mackenzie Dickey (bicycle alley), Maureen Bruno Roy (Independent Fabrications), Christine Vardaros (Lotto-Belisol Ladie steam),(Image credit: Marco Quesada)
Southampton turned on spectacular(Image credit: Marco Quesada)
Lynn Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) and Ryan Trebon (Kona) took victory in the first races of their season, but each of them had different paths to get there.
Fifteen women contested the 2.5 kilometer Southampton course, but it was all Bessette from the opening gun. She was never challenged, as she built up a lead of a minute to win wire to wire. The challenges were to be found early on in the best of the rest, as Christine Vardaros (Lotto-Belisol Ladiesteam), Maureen Bruno-Roy (Independent Fabrications), and Mackenzie Dickey starting trading positions trying to chase down Bessette. Vardaros eventually went clear of the trio and Bruno made a vailant effort to catch back on but couldn't do so and had to settle for third.
Unlike the women's race, the men found a group of riders that couldn't get rid of each other, despite several mechanical failures and crashes. After the first lap a group of seven formed the front, including Kona stars Trebon and Barry Wicks, Tim Johnson (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com), defending champion Mark McCormack (Clif Bar), Jesse Anthony (Clif Bar), Matt White (Fiordifrutta), and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Cyclocrossworld.com). Despite Trebon dropping his chain and Wicks crashing in the woods, the seven could not break the rubber band holding them together.
Finally half-way through the race Trebon was able to bust the front group up while taking only Johnson with him. McCormack had the hard task of trying to make the bridge with Wicks in tow not willing to do anything towards the effort. The rest of the race saw Trebon and Johnson right on each other right to the finish, with Trebon using his height to his advantage at the end with a final kick that Johnson could not match. McCormack was eventually able to fend off Wicks but was relegated to the final spot on the podium for the day.
