Grant wraps up victory in the Park City P2P

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Now in its fourth year, the 80-mile Park City Point to Point (PCP2P) is one of just two sanctioned National Ultra Endurance (NUE) Series events with a distance shorter than 100 miles. By the end of the day, weather conditions and a severe lack of course marking would both play a role in the outcome of the race.

Severe thunderstorms and pounding rains delayed the start of the race by one hour with race director, Jay Burke, opting to put safety first. To help make up for lost time, the round valley loop was removed with the intention of helping put racers back on schedule. Within an hour, however, the race kicked off like bees from the hive as storms gave way to blue skies for most of the day, along with favorable mild temperatures. Later, as if in a show of defiance, the storms would return, briefly.

Men: Grant makes it four in a row

Three-time defending PCP2P champion Alex Grant (Cannondale Factory Racing) made it four-in-a-row, continuing his dominance in Park City with a winning time of 5:50:51. He was closely followed by Ben Sonntag (Bikehausdurango) at 4:23 and Josh Tostado (Santa Cruz) at 22:27.

"The Park City Point 2 Point is one of the most fun, but also the hardest, race that I do all year," said Grant. "I knew it was going to be a tough battle and before the race, there had been some talk of the four-peat. I tried not to put too much pressure on myself and focused on preparing the best I could. I knew it would be a hard year with riders Ben Sonntag, Josh Tostado,, Carey Smith (Team CF), Nick Truitt (Yeti Pactimo Pro XC), Ben Melt Swanepoel (Squirt Lube), Jason Sager (Jamis) and Drew Edsall (Kenda/Felt) in attendance in addition to the usual strong Utah locals."

Race morning threw another variable in the equation with pounding rain and wicked thunderstorms.

"I wasn't sure if we would race or not," said Grant, "but luckily it stopped, and we got to race most of the course. Since the trail conditions were unknown, I jumped into the singletrack first to have a clean line. It was a little wet in spots with a lot of puddles, but overall trail conditions were primo."

After about 30 minutes, Sonntag took up the lead and started to apply pressure, shedding most riders. By the time they started the main climb up to Deer Valley, Nick Truitt and Grant were the only riders remaining with Sonntag.

"We rode a strong pace up to Silver Lake and eventually shed Nick as well," said Grant. "After that point, it was just 'The German' and I ripping perfect singletrack for most of the day, pushing each other and enjoying the trails at the same time."

About three hours into the race, Grant got away from Sonntag on the steep switchbacks of the Steps climb. "I was still climbing well and figured that I should try to keep the pressure on while I felt good and stayed on the gas. I ended up keeping the lead and taking my fourth win, which was a great feeling," said Grant.

Less than five minutes later, Sonntag crossed the line at 5:55:14, the only two in the men's division to go sub six-hours on the day.

Breckenridge strongman Tostado, multiple-time winner of the Breckenridge 100, including this year, moved up to sixth place overall in the NUE Series, finishing third on the day at 6:13:17. Two minutes behind Tostado, Smith claimed fourth in 6:15:37, moving him up to second place in the NUE Series behind his teammate and NUE Series defending champion, Christian Tanguy (Team CF). Tanguy was registered for the next day's Shenandoah 100 in Virginia.

Truitt claimed fifth in 6:20:19 with Yuki Ikeda (Topeak/Ergon) at 6:25:47 and Sam Sweetser (Cole Sport Racing) 6:26:57 finishing close, in sixth and seventh place.

Women: Carey repeats at Park City

For a second straight year, Two-time Kenda NUE defending champion, Amanda Carey (Kenda/Felt) notched her second straight win at Park City, and her sixth win in the NUE Series this year, completing the course in 7:16:46.

"I knew that I probably would be carrying some fatigue from the Breck Epic and then having done a very hard 100 the weekend before Breck, so I was totally expecting a slower start out of myself," said Carey.

"I didn't feel bad, but I didn't feel great at the beginning. I got knocked off my bike at the hole-shot and Jenny [Smith] got about six riders ahead of me on that forever-long singletrack climb so I just kept losing more and more time. Then I got stuck behind slower descenders who had passed me on the up. I wasn't going that slow...but I just happened to be going slower than two other very strong women for the first three hours of the race!"

Carey commented that the second half of the PCP2P is the hardest. After aid station 1, the climbing becomes more than just pumping out the watts. The course also gets more technical.

"I knew all that and refused to panic and blow myself up chasing the leaders early on," said Carey. "I was third for quite a while and receiving splits for the first five hours that just kept putting me farther and farther behind - but I know myself, my style, my own abilities so I never gave up and just stayed patient."

At the bottom of Johns, just before the Steps climb, Carey was down by seven minutes. She kept it together, stayed focused and had some fun, eventually making up time.

"By the time I reached aid 2, I had Jenny in my sights. I played it smart and shut down the two-minute gap during the first half of the Spiro/Armstrong climb up to Mid-mountain. I caught Jenny and from there just pushed the pace as hard as I could to the finish."

KC Holley (Mad Dog/4Life) rolled in second at 7:24:57 followed closely by Jenny Smith (No Tubes Women's Elite) in 7:25:56. "I felt really comfortable and built a lead which was great," said Smith, who knew Carey was coming for her.

"Unfortunately I descended a jeep road with two others that we weren't meant to cross. We just misinterpreted the course markings thinking it led us down. This occurred about two miles before the second feed zone. Realizing the error and climbing back up the hill, I lost a solid five minutes, maybe more, and it frazzled me, too, so I came into the final feed zone maybe 30 seconds in front of Amanda. She stormed the course out of there and I was unable to hang. But I did pull it back together to finish strong. Last year this race was, honestly, possibly the hardest I'd ever done, so I was super stoked to put it back in perspective yesterday and finished worked over, but thinking it was fun! Shout out to the organizers for their work and equal payout."

Fourth place went to Katherine O'Shea (Torq Nutrition) in 7:38:04 with Erin Swenson (3B Yoga) claiming fifth in 7:52:04. All of the top five women finished sub eight hours. The highly anticipated matchup between Carey and Mata may have to wait another year. For a second straight year, Pua Mata (Sho-Air), although registered, failed to show.

Singlespeed: Larrabee wins but several other racers go off course

Cory Larrabee (Revolion/Kuhl) was one of just two to break sub-seven hours in the singlespeed division. Larrabee finished first in 6:38:32 after finishing second last year. Jason Sherman (3B Yoga, Park Sports) rolled in just over six minutes back at 6:44:55 to snag second.

AJ Linnell (Fitzgerald's Bicycles/Misfit Psycles), an NUE contender in the running for a podium finish nationally in the NUE Series was, unfortunately, one of eight racers who missed a downed turn sign before unknowingly, rejoining the course later in front of Sherman.

According to race official Shannon Boffeli, "Due to heavy rain and difficult course conditions, several riders made a wrong turn that took them off course and immediately back on, cutting out a two-mile section of trail. Upon hearing of the course deviation, officials identified the confusing turn and, after fixing it, determined riders who took the cutoff missed 20 minutes of riding. At the finish, riders who missed the turn and eliminated that portion of the course were given a 20-minute time correction.

As a result of the time correction, both Dax Massey (Honey Stinger/Light & Motion) and AJ Linnell (Fitzgerald's Bicycles/Misfit Psycles) earned race day awards for second and third place without protest.

Unfortunately, for all eight racers, including Massey and Linnell, NUE rules expressly forbid a race director from adding or taking time away from a racer for any reason. The racers either completed the course or are disqualified.

The NUE Series rule states: "For the sake of the integrity of the National Series, No participating Race Director of the National Series will have the right to alter race times for any reason! This includes deducting or adding time to a racer for any reason. A racer's time must be based solely on actual time. The racer either completed the entire course or is DSQed for not completing the entire course. This rule will insure that the results of the national series will be based strictly on finish times and the series will not be decided by a ruling by any participating race director."

Afterward Linnell expressed mixed feelings about the race, "My PCP2P this year was super fun, and then really disappointing. I felt like I had a strong race, riding the first half with Corey and then chasing Dax for the rest. Rolling through the finish line, I thought I had come in really well, and then Jay came up and told us that we had actually cut a portion of the course! I still have no idea when it happened, but apparently Dax and I were in a group of seven or eight guys that missed a hairpin turn. The problem is that the course continued up the hill, a little way over, so we didn't know we had missed anything and then we were following markings again."

Linnell continued, "PCP2P Official Shannon Boffeli went out and rode the section we missed in 16 minutes, so he and race director, Jay Burke, decided to add 15 minutes to our times and give us the finish. That seemed like a bummer for Corey since it put him just a few minutes back and it's impossible to know how long it would have actually taken Dax and me to complete that portion of the course after 40 miles of riding, so I pitched the idea of making it a 20-minute penalty to give Corey the win and Dax and myself second and third respectively, which was still weird for Dax and me, after putting in the effort that we did."

"For me, personally, the bigger bummer is that NUE rules dictate that any racer who doesn't complete the entire course is automatically declared a DNF for that race-no exceptions. Thus, I am no longer a contender for the NUE Series singlespeed division. I needed to finish the P2P as my fourth race this season. It's clear that Gerry (Pflug) is probably going to win the series again, but I thought I was a contender for second. Most of the course was well-marked, but I've spoken with a number of people who missed that turn in their pre-ride and anticipated it being a problem, especially with the rest of the course continuing up the hill 30 meters away. It's just a huge bummer to blow my series standing as a result."

Later, Race Director Jay Burke said, "This was a very crazy day in Park City. We hadn't had rain, let alone major thunderstorms, all summer. So this really took a toll on the course and us all week. As for those racers that missed the turn on course, trust me, we feel as bad as they do."

"I've already made a commitment to change the course for next year so we have no areas that are so close together like that. Because of the nature of the day, we made a determination to not DSQ any of those racers, we applied a +20 minute penalty, and moved forward with the day. In the grander view of the day, things could have gone much worse, we're truly just happy everyone made it home safe Saturday afternoon. We're already looking forward to next year."

PCP2P results show Dax and Linnell as second and third place respectively.

NUE Series point standing results have Mike Barklow (Just for Fun Racing) finishing third in 7:21:48, Jacob Whipple (Methow Cycle Sport/Blue Star Coffee) fourth at 7:23:47, Derrick Batley fifth at 7:35:01.

Masters 50+: Duran Gets the victory

Terry Duran (Scott Sports) put 20 minutes on the field, winning in just 7:21:51. When Duran learned that his finish put him in first place, he replied, "I really didn’t know where I was among the master’s in the race."

Finishing second, Andy Leifer (Team Evergreen Racing/ Willas Wheels) came in at 7:41:00. "Good day, but a very tough course. I awoke Saturday morning at 5:00 am to thunder and lightning, followed by solid rain for an hour and a half. At 6:00 am, the race director equivocated for an hour and a half. 'We'll meet at 7:00 am and decide if we are going at 8:00 am or not.' At 7:15 am, he gathered the racers together and tried to get us to make the call for him. 'Who wants to go today? Show of hands. Who wants to go tomorrow? Ended up split 50-50, so he finally said, 'We'll try today and cut off the Round Valley section.'

Leifer noted that many of the turns were well marked except for the bottom of the Boulder Trail, which was completely unmarked. "I missed this turn and so did several others a ways behind me. I popped out onto Hwy 224 (The Guardsmen Road up above Park City) where I looked around, riding in circles and searching for the trail, until someone who happened to be standing around near some parked cars told me I had missed the turn and had to go back. Went up to the trail, saw some others turning back, missed the turn again, and fortunately saw people above me going the right way. Back around I went and when I got to the missed turn, a course official was there sticking flags into the ground to mark the turn. Ironically, I found every other turn on the course to be well marked, primarily with orange spray paint on loose rocks or arrows sprayed directly onto the ground. It made me wonder, only in retrospect, about course sabotage on that one turn. After the finish, I heard some rumor about others nearer the front getting turned off course somewhere as well."

Two minutes back, Kevin Moffett (4 Life/Maddog) finished third in 7:43:54. Just over five minutes later, fourth place went to Jeff Sumsion (Park City Orthodontics) in 7:49:34. With his fifth place finish in 7:56:59, Mark Hershberger (Team Jackson Hole/Hoback Sports), who won the Pierre's Hole 100 earlier this year, moved up to second place in the NUE Series standings.

Results