Matter and Rinehart repeat wins at Chequamegon 40

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Brian Matter (Gear Grinder/Trek) captured up his second Chequamegon 40 win with a vicious attack two miles to go in the 40-mile race, setting a course record of 2:02:55.7 in the process. His attack dropped Cole House (BMC), who taking risks on the final downhill corner, nearly caught Matter at the line and finished less than a second behind. Steve Tilford, who initially went with Matter's final move, finished third.

In the women's Chequamegon 40, Jenna Rinehart (Specialized) also won her second race in 2:19:31.3. Her time was five seconds slower than Lea Davison's record time in 2008. Rinehart won in 2007 and finished second last year. She beat former champions Kyia Anderson (Hidden Bay/Cannondale) and Catherine Walberg (Team Kenda).

House initially blew the men's race wide open in the early stages of the race, whittling a lead group of 40 riders down to eight at 16 miles into the race. These eight were later joined by another seven riders pulled along by Mark and Jesse Lalonde. Mark eventually placed fourth, over a minute down on Matter.

Matter made his first move when the course entered the rolling Birkie hills with nine miles to go, and only House and Tilford could respond.

"I got on the gas with two miles to go in the last section of singletrack," said Matter. House, whose legs were cramping, stayed in the saddle and tried to maintain Matter's pace up the final climb. "I took a big chance on the last corner and railed it as hard as I could," House said, but it wasn't enough to catch Matter, who was a member of last year's US World Championship cyclo-cross team.

Rinehart won the women's race teaming up with the men racing around her. "I got in a good group of guys and just focused on their rear wheels," she said. "The scariest part of the race was on the pavement. If you can survive that ..." Rinehart rode the last few miles of the race alone, but by then she had established a comfortable seven-minute lead on the second placed Anderson.

Jake Richards won the 16-mile Short and Fat race in 51:57.4, beating Tom Meyer by six seconds. Meyer was riding a singlespeed.

Former Chequamegon 40 champion Cindy Bijold grabbed the women's Short and Fat title.

Brian and Kim Eppen (Mercy/Specialized) won the tandem race, placing 38th overall in 2:12:51.1 despite breaking a chain.

More than 1,700 racers completed the 40-mile contest.

Results