Can Nuss, White and a host of contenders keep reigning elite champions from repeating atop podium?
2021 US elite cyclocross champions return to Hartford to defend titles, Eric Brunner for the men and Clara Honsinger for the women(Image credit: Getty Images)
The USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships return to Hartford, Connecticut, for the first time in five years, flooding Riverside Park with a torrent of wheels and course tape this week and culminating with junior 17-18, U23 and elite winners crowned for men and women on Sunday, December 11.
On the field of play, the heated battles for stars-and-stripes jerseys have a new generation of stars to watch, as a changing of the guard among the elite fields has taken place in five seasons. Stephen Hyde and Katie Compton no longer command podiums, and now Hyde is on the other side of the tape as a Cyclocross National Team coach for USA Cycling.
However, a few of the young men's challengers from the last Hartford outing are back as veterans themselves, including Tobin Ortenblad and Kerry Werner, who was third in the men’s elite race there, and U23 winner in 2017 Lance Haidet and that year’s U23 runner-up Gage Hecht.
Compton posted her 13th consecutive title for elite women in Hartford, then added two more titles for a total of 15. In 2020, she tested positive for an anabolic steroid from an out-of-competition control and was handed a four-year ban which ended her career. The lineup of elite riders expected to take over the reins included Kaitie Keough, Ellen Noble and Rebecca Fahringer, but retirement and injuries have taken a toll, and Clara Honsinger is the new queen of ‘cross for the US since winning the elite race as a 22-year-old in 2019.
Men's field
Curtis White, shown here at Rochester Cyclocross, is a top contender to unseat Eric Brunner (Image credit: Bruce Buckley)
Eric Brunner (Blue Competition Cycles p/b Build) said he’s ready to “rip it” in Hartford and add a second elite cyclocross national title to his resume. He moved up to the elite level last year after taking a collection of medals in the U23 ranks, the last time gold in 2019. Since winning the elite men’s Pan-American CX Championship in early November this season, his second career Pan-Am title, the Colorado rider has ripped off another four consecutive victories, sweeping UCI races at Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross and Northampton International, both based in New England. It will be tough to stop Brunner in Hartford.
Could this be the year for Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation)? He’s only 27 but has been racing cyclocross for more than a decade, with a large majority of his success in New England near his home in western New York state. This season he repeated as the overall champion of the US Cyclocross Series and was second to Brunner at the Pan-Am Championships. Speaking of second, White would like nothing more than to reach the top step on Sunday as he has amassed five runner-up spots at various levels at Nationals, including the last three rides in the elite field.
Werner will compete for a ninth time in the elite men’s race, having finished 11th or better across his career, including bronze medals in 2017 and 2018. The Kona Adventure Team rider did not travel to the north-east for Pan-Ams and other races but focused on events closer to his home base in Virginia this year, where he won both days at North Carolina Grand Prix and accumulated third-place and fourth-place finishes at Charm City Cross and Virginia’s Blue Ridge Go Cross.
These three elite men are the favourites to win the big show Sunday, but among the competitors with curveballs are Haidet (L39ION of Los Angeles), Scott McGill, Brannan Fix (Fix Racing), Scott Funston (Blue Competition Cycles p/b Build) and Caleb Swartz (ENVE Composites).
U23 and junior men
The top podium step is wide open for the taking in the U23 men’s race as last year’s winner Scott Funston, 22 years old, will compete in the elite field Sunday. It could very well be a replication of the Pan-American Championship race, which came down to a sprint between Jack Spranger (Bear National Team) and Andrew Strohmeyer (CX Hairs Devo/Trek Bikes), Spranger taking the gold. Daxton Mock (CX Hairs Devo/Trek Bikes) was only eight seconds back for the bronze medal.
One of the biggest fields of the entire week will be the junior men 17-18 with 74 entries. Last year Andrew A.J. August (FinKraft Junior Cycling Team) carried a large lead into the final lap but had a flat tyre after passing the pit, which allowed Magnus White (Boulder Junior Cycling) to make the pass for the victory.
August is fresh off a historic win at Koppenbergcross and is motivated to take the title this time out. He’ll have to hold off White again, as well as Finkraft teammate David Thompson, who has six junior wins this year, including the Pan Am junior championship.
Women's field
Raylyn Nuss won the Pan-American Championships in Massachusetts (Image credit: Lee McDaniel/ Resolution Cross Cup)
Clara Honsinger (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) looks to go three-for-three as an elite rider at nationals. In fact, she was on the podium twice as a U23 rider as well, winning that title in Louisville in 2018. The reigning champion began the season with a win at the C1 Trek CX Cup and two top-10 finishes in US World Cups before heading overseas for a European campaign. Days after the continental switch, she won a pair of C2 races in Nommay, France. She also has a pair of top 10s at World Cup races in Belgium, including Overijse in late November.
She’s done a few things differently in 2022, such as moving her home base from Oregon in the US to Oudenaarde, Belgium. And she amped up her road racing season with Women’s WorldTour team EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, which now supports her in ‘cross after the demise of Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com.
Her biggest rival on race day will be Raylyn Nuss (Steve Tilford Foundation), who is the two-time Pan-American champion for elite women, which she last won in Massachusetts in mid-November. Nuss was second to Honsinger a year ago at Nationals, and this year has been the top US woman at domestic races. Nuss finished second in the USCX, behind French rider Caroline Mani, and has seven podiums this season, including a win in her last outing at Northampton International.
A two-woman battle is the odds-on pick for Sunday’s race, but watch out for Austin Killips (nice bikes), Hannah Arensman (Ignition p/b Rigd-Leitner) and Caitlin Bernstein (nice bikes).
U23 and junior women
Among the U23 women, look for 19-year-old Lizzy Gunsalus (Steve Tilford Foundation) to use energy from the ‘local’ crowd as motivation. A native of Dudley, Massachusetts, located 50 miles from Hartford, won the Pan-Am Championship a few weeks ago and wants to improve from her bronze medal a year ago in that division.
Maddie Munro (Trek Factory Racing) heads to nationals fresh off a team mountain bike camp in Arizona. As part of the Colorado Mesa University cycling team, she has won cross-country and short track XC mountain bike titles this season, plus a state title in cyclocross. Her teammate at CMU is the reigning U23 national titlist, Katie Clouse (Steve Tilford Foundation). Clouse was second in the Colorado State CX Championships behind Munro, and took top 10s in STXC, XC and downhill mountain bike collegiate nationals.
Course and conditions
The Riverside Park course for the 2022 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships was blanketed with mud for the opening two days (Image credit: USA Cycling)
The historic Connecticut River serves as the backdrop for a twisting, 2.2-mile course on floodplain turf and dirt through Riverside Park, managed by Riverfront Recapture, just steps from downtown Hartford.
A couple of challenging run-ups make use of a river levy on the opening section of the course, with a forest section serving up a newly-added sand pit near the river. A wide-open power section leads past a boathouse, stairs and a fly over before the final twisting, technical section to the finish.
Weather is always a variable in New England. Several days of rain have soaked into the brown soil early in the week, trodden down by hundreds and hundreds of amateur riders in non-championship and collegiate events since December 6. Fluctuating temperatures, from cold to freezing, will make a mess of deep ruts and snow showers are in the forecast for late Sunday for those photogenic images and slippery conditions that highlighted 2017.
Watching the action
USA Cycling has partnered with FloBikes to provide two days of live streaming for the championships, Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11. A subscription is required for viewing, which costs $150 for a full year, which allows viewers to stream or cast from a desktop, mobile device or TV.
Saturday’s broadcast offers 11 races which include divisions for juniors and singlespeed riders. On Sunday, the live broadcast begins at 8:00 a.m. ET with the junior men 17-18 race, followed by junior women 17-18 at 8:55, U23 Women at 9:50 a.m. and U23 Men at 11:05 a.m. Elite Women will compete in a 50-minute contest for the stars-and-stripes jersey beginning at 12:35 p.m., while the Elite Men will ride for 60 minutes beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Access to Riverside Park for in-person viewing requires the purchase of a wristband for $20, for individuals 11 years and older. The wristband is good all week. For additional information on event schedule and parking, visit USACycling.org.
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Cyclocross National Championships schedule for December 11
8:00 a.m. - Junior Men 17-18
8:55 a.m. - Junior Women 17-18
9:50 a.m. - U23 Women
11:05 a.m. - U23 Men
12:35 p.m. - Elite Women
2:30 p.m. - Elite Men
All times Eastern Time
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Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
