Madigan "Maddie" Munro may have been short of first place, but she had her own winning weekend in the under-23 women’s category at the opening round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Waterloo, Wisconsin. When the dust settled after the elite women’s race, she had the silver medal in the U23 category as well as her first top 10 finish in an elite women’s World Cup event.
The Boulder, Colorado native is rising quickly through the ranks in cyclo-cross, which is now a balancing act with her love for mountain biking. She will put a hold on the World Cup chase for points, however, and skip round 2 of the cyclo-cross series in Fayetteville, Arkansas to defend her title at USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships, taking place at Purgatory Resort in Colorado from October 13-16.
“I'll be in Durango racing some mountain bikes, collegiate mountain bike nationals with my team, Colorado Mesa University. But then I should be back out racing ‘cross in December and then heading to Europe to get ready for Worlds,” said Munro, with a wide smile after racing Waterloo World Cup.
Last year as a sophomore at CMU, she won the collegiate titles in cross-country and short track XC. Then in the summer she won the U23 cross-country title at mountain bike nationals. Defence of her titles will begin Friday with the cross-country event, and continue on Saturday for short track. This is the second year that the national competition is being held at Purgatory Resort, the venue which also hosted the first-ever Mountain Bike World Championships in 1990.
The 20-year-old joined Trek Factory Racing after she capped her final ‘cross season racing as a junior with a bronze medal at the 2020 Cyclo-cross World Championships in Dübendorf, Switzerland. In the first half of the 2021-2022 ‘cross campaign, she scored a podium at Kings CX in the C2 event, then used the momentum to win the U23 crown at Pan American Championships in Texas and then the U23 silver medal at the US national championships in Fayetteville.
Her current season began with a trio of top-five finishes in the US, including second place in the elite women’s muddy C2 race at Rochester Cyclocross. At Trek CX Cup, she was fifth behind race winner and two-time US ‘cross national champion Clara Honsinger (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB), and she translated that experience two days later into a career best at a World Cup.
“To be honest, I think just kind of knowing how Friday's race went with the girls that were here, and especially riding with Clara, [helped]. I kind of know what her riding style is and how of follow her wheel, she’s a steady rider. So my goal was to try and stay near her or people similar to that,” Munro told Cyclingnews.
“I managed to stay upright most of the time, and try and stay on as many wheels as I can. I think once you get in that no-man's land, you're a little bit in trouble. So just trying to stay with one or two people, I think I did that for the most part. So I tried to just be smooth and patient and pass when I could.”
A herd of six Dutch riders monopolised the front of the race, with 20-year-old Fem van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) taking the sprint ahead of second-placed Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Fenix). Honsinger was the top US rider, finishing seventh. Munro did not fade, but remained 17 seconds ahead of French rider and USCX series leader Caroline Mani in the end.
“Maybe towards the end of the race, I kind of had a gap between the person in front of me and the person behind me. So then I think I did a pretty good job just holding my own pace, riding super smooth, and being able to maintain that gap from the people behind me and that's what kept me going.”
She planned to take some time out to rest after the collegiate mountain biking nationals and then dive back into “proper Euro CX racing” after US nationals in Hartford, Connecticut in December.
