Sornson wins Wilderness 101

The 12th annual Wilderness 101 started on a foggy, drizzly Saturday morning. The ominous cloud cover turned out to be a good thing as it kept temperatures low throughout much of the morning. Later in the day, the summer sunshine broke through the clouds until a few scattered showers fell in the afternoon.  Cheryl Sornson (Team CF) and Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale Factory Racing) raced to victory.

Women

In the women's race, a fierce battle started in the morning with an attack by Cheryl Sornson (Team CF). She opened up an early gap on Vicki Barclay (Stan's No Tubes Womens Elite), Kristen Gavin (Team CF) and Karen Potter (MTBracenews.com). The trio ended up chasing Sornson for most of the race and then breaking apart in the latter half of the race.

Barclay rode away from the chase group in an attempt to catch Sornson, but the gap was never closed, and Sornson won the race. The winner described the course as more difficult than she remembered and said it was a tough day.

Barclay finished second. The home field advantage seemed to be an advantage for her. "Having friends at the aid stations helped motivate me to race hard."

Gavin was third while Brenda Simril (Motor Mile Racing) finished in fourth, just ahead of Potter, who was fifth.

Men

In the men's race, Team CF made an early presence at the front, keeping the pace steady. Up the first climb, Christian Tanguy (Team CF) cracked the whip which chiseled the lead group down, but it was Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale Factory Racing) who punched it into the singletrack first and launched what would be for him an impressive race.

A chase group quickly formed, but the only two men who could catch Bishop were Johnathan Schottler (Cannondale) and Justin Lindine (Redline).

Bishop, Lindine, and Schottler rode together until a late race attack by Bishop helped him get away and take the win by five minutes. This left Schottler and Lindine to battle for second.

Schottler, who rides and works for Cannondale, proved the stronger of the two as he slipped away from NUE favorite Lindine and raced to second place. Lindine finished close behind in third place.

The battle for fourth was between late race bloomer Kevin Carter (Gripped Films) and Mr. NUE, Christian Tanguy, but Carter was able to outpower Tanguy in the end. Tanguy rounded out the podium in fifth.

Race note

- Two of the more noteworthy finishers were Mark and Vicki Schow, who traveled from Zhejiang Providence, China to compete in the race for a seventh time. They competed on a full suspension tandem.

Full Results