Sone tops women's 40-44

The 2012 USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships continued Thursday with the crowning of 12 masters national champions. Nearly 150 of the country's best 45-80 year-old cyclo-cross bike racers tackled the course at Badger Prairie Park on an unseasonably warm January day in Wisconsin.

In the afternoon's premiere contest for masters women, Linda Sone (Cycle-Smart) and Kimberly Flynn (Scenic City Velo) were the story of the women’s 40-44 race; duking it out throughout the four-lap affair. After the lead flip-flopped several times, Sone, who is a firefighter in Minnesota, finally took the lead for good on the final lap as she began running the technical sand and mud sections.

In the first women's race of the day, Kathy Sarvary (Blue Steel Cyclery) got the hole shot at the start of the race and rode away with the women's 55-59 national championship. Diane Ostenso (Trek Midwest Team) mounted a late charge, but Sarvary won by 24 seconds.

Next up was the women's 60-64 competition where the powerful Tove Shere (KHSNM.com-Thenationalsproject.com) took the lead from the gun and was able to hold off multi-time national champion Martha Iverson (Durango Wheel Club) to earn her first stars-and-stripes in cyclo-cross.

"I took the big ring right from the gun," Shere said. "I risked a lot on the descents in order to get a lead pretty quickly. It could have been a whole new ball game if it were snowing or frozen, but I had some luck and I had great support from the New Mexico fans all over the course yelling and screaming."

Julie O'Neill earned the national championship for women 65-69 after traversing the 2.1-mile course four times in 56:27.

Julie Lockhart (Northeast Bicycle Club), who broke her pelvis and shoulder in a training accident in August, won the women's 70-and-over race to collect her sixth cyclo-cross national title today.

"I tried to chase down anyone who tried to pass me of the 55s," Lockhart said. "There was one person that I was determined to stay away from. It was a good race, very nice course. I like it a lot."

As the ground thawed later in the morning, the women's 45-49 race took the course. It didn't take long for the leader to find her way to the front of the pack. Gina Hall (California Giant Cycling), who earned the second national title of her career today, quickly made it obvious she was the rider to beat. Hall broke away early in the race and didn't yield, as she won by 47 seconds.

"I just tried to be patient and move to the front," Hall said. "I think I got to the front close to the climb on the first lap. I decided at that point to attack and put some time between me and the group. I knew there were some fast women in there. I was concerned about trying to battle them throughout the race, especially on the slippery descents. It's so easy to fall. That's where I got my gap. I just tried to hold it. Someone was closing down on me for a while, but somehow I held them off."

In the women's 50-54 competition, the action came late in the race. Kris Walker (The Contender Club) built a lead approaching 15 seconds heading into the last of the four-lap affair. Approximately midway through the last lap, Walker heard cheers for Catherine Walberg. Much to Walker's surprise, Walberg had made up the gap and was close to passing Walker. Walker stepped on the gas and sprinted to the finish line, holding off Walberg by only four seconds.

"They're all really special to me," Walker said. "The first one was just awesome because it was my first. Today's is also special because Catherine is really on her game. To beat her is really special because she is a tough, tough competitor."