House and Strigel win Wigwam MTB Challenge

The finale for the Subaru Wisconsin Off Road Series (WORS) took place this weekend in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Rain or shine, Cole House and Abby Strigel came to grab the last two pieces of gold for the year.

The Wigwam MTB Challenge in Sheboygan has now served as the finale of the 12-event WORS Series for more than 10 years. Event organizers planned major course changes, including running many trails backwards from previous years to add an element of surprise.

They got a little more surprise than expected. Rain had been on the radar all weekend and racers were prepared for the worst. The pre-ride was cancelled to preserve the trails for race day, and several sections had to be cut from the race. These included the Equalizer, a seemingly vertical climb that challenges even the top pros and has long been spectator and competitor favorite.

Despite the rain and course changes, spectators braved the woods to cheer for their favorite athletes. The singletrack had become so muddy and wet from the rain and previous Cat. 2 and 3 races that the Cat. 1 events were a matter of survival. Spectators cheered not only for the fastest person, but also the one who could stay upright the longest.

Men

As the men took to the start line for the elite series, Cole House (Competitive Cyclist/616) showed the field that he meant business. House had a legacy to defend, having won this event in 2011 and 2009, and he was not going to let a little mud and rain slow him down. Off the start line, he took the lead and grabbed the hole shot sprint prime. The field did not catch him, but battled against the mud and against each other.

Mark Lalonde (Lalonde Bros. / Twin Six) came out to one last WORS race for the season and ended up with a second place medal. Lalonde, a seasoned cyclo-cross racer and former All American runner, tends to do very well in bad conditions. Nathan Guerra (Vision/Wheel & Sprocket) claimed the third step on the podium after a grueling effort. Going over the bars early on, he fought his way back into the top three. Even amongst the agony and the cold shivers, these guys all had smiles on their faces as they recounted the race.

Women

Abby Strigel (Honey Stinger / Bontrager / Pat's Gym) also took the title for her second year in a row at the Wigwam MTB Challenge. Strigel used the shortened course length to her advantage and said, "For me, shorter races are better. So knowing that it was short, I just went as hard as I could."

She could not be caught, but there was a definite battle for the next three positions. Amber Markey (Magnus) put up a strong fight in the tough conditions. With strong climbing skills, Markey led Lisa Krayer (Adventure 212/Specialized) and Cooper Dendel (Culver's Racing) at first. As the muddy, technical course took its toll, Krayer was able to get around Markey for a second place finish. Cooper Dendel and Amber Markey worked hard until the end, when the 20-year-old Dendel passed to claim third before the finish.

As the traditional WORS series finale, Sheboygan is a special event for competitors and their families to spend one last day racing and cheering for each other. For many, this was the most fun they've had all year. To celebrate their 21st season racing in Wisconsin, and the WORS Year of the Junior in 2012, WORS will hold their annual series banquet, raffle, and awards ceremony this Saturday, October 20 in Steven's Point Wisconsin.

Full Results

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Elite men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Cole House (Competitive cyclist)1:44:40
2Mark Lalonde (Lalonde Bros-Twin Six)0:02:56
3Nathan Guerra (Vision/Wheel &Sprocket)0:04:09
4Darrin Braun (Adventure 212/Specialized)0:05:17
5Mike Phillips (Adventure212/Specialized)0:05:49
6Tyler Gauthier (Culvers p/b Meyer Family Vision)0:06:09
7Justin Piontek (The Bike Hub/Specialized)0:07:19
8Chris Peariso (Adventure212/Specialized)0:08:31
9Trevor Olson (Muddy Cup)0:11:02
10Ray Nelson (Treadhead Cycling)0:12:27
11Ryan Krayer (Adventure212/Specialized)0:12:59
12Greg Krieger (Eriksen Cycles)0:13:29
13Joseph Maloney (KS Energy Services/Team Wisconsin)0:17:04
14Tyler Jenema (Kuhl Racingtain)0:17:47
15Brian Heifner (Magnus)0:18:22
16Nikolai Anikin (conti)0:18:30
17Scott Cole (Adventure 212/Specialized)0:18:34
18Nicholas Holzem (Sprocketz)0:21:14
19Carlos Haeckel (Alterra Coffee/W85)0:22:06
20John Shull (EXPO)0:24:07
21Dan Schaefer (Team Fond du Lac Cyclery)0:29:53
22Myles Beach (Adventure 212/Specialized)0:30:06
23Michael Humpal (Specialized)0:32:00
24John Wypiszinski (Titletown Flyers)0:32:52
25Bill Nigh (Team Pedal Moraine)0:38:39
26Tim Scanley (Alterra Coffee)0:44:14
27Michael Dutczak (South Chicago Wheelman)0:49:18
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Elite women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Abby Strigel (Honey Stringer/Bontager/Pat's)1:29:10
2Lisa Krayer (Adventure 212/Specialized)0:06:32
3Cooper Dendel (Culvers)0:07:16
4Amber Markey (Magnus)0:08:35
5Michelle Peariso (Adventure212/Specialized)0:16:43
6Denise Coppock (Titletown Flyers)0:22:27
7Jennifer Whitedog (BikesLTD/ScenicConcepts)0:26:05
8April Dombrowski (Team Pedal Moraine)0:43:26
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Cat. 1 Junior men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Fletcher Arlen (Safe Wheels MTB Racing)1:21:00
2Parker McColl0:05:38
3Brett Poulton (Expo)0:05:58
4Andrew Senderhauf (Wheel and Sprocket)0:08:03
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Cat. 2 Junior women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Rachael Jensen (RACC p/b Geargrinder)2:17:48
2Emily Shull (EXPO)0:22:53
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Cat. 1 and 2 men open
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Mark Melton (Kegels)1:22:27
2Zach Giffey0:05:03
3Steve Forss (Kegels)0:08:38
4Douglas House0:10:45
5Jon Holcomb (Bikes Ltd/Scenic Concepts)0:16:27
6Marcus Steele (Titletown Flyers)0:20:48
7Jesse Jaehning (Bikes Limited)0:22:42
8Steve Davidson (Titletown Flyers)0:38:04
9Brian Benson (Bikes Ltd/Scenic Concepts)0:39:39
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Cat. 1 and 2 open women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Sheri Van Epps (BikesLTD/ScenicConcepts)1:49:18
2Cyndi Ehrike (Safe Wheels MTB Racing Team)0:09:30
3Karlene Olson (Muddy Cup)0:16:58
4Sonni Klipp (JVC / MichaelsCycles)0:26:50
5Brenda Zimmermann Thorpe (Rib Mountain Cycles/Red Eye)0:34:49
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Cat. 2 Comp men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jason Ruesch (RMC)1:26:05
2Kyle Russ0:00:40
3Ben Schreiber (Team Fond du Lac Cyclery)0:02:02
4Ken Naef (Titletown Flyers)0:02:22
5Mike Sherven (Bikes Limited Senic Outlook)0:02:54
6Christopher Berge (Magnus)0:03:19
7Ben Marchewka (Team Pedal Moraine)0:04:11
8Cory Samz (Heavy Pedal)0:04:16
9David Poulton (Activatorng Club)0:05:35
10Joshua Meyer (Heavy Pedal Velo Club)0:05:41
11Mike Daish0:05:54
12Christopher Richmond (Heavy Pedal Velo Club)0:06:50
13Dave Blanke (The Bike Connection)0:07:31
14Chris Fellows (Team WORS)0:07:59
15Brett May (Team All Spoked Up)0:08:08
16Ross Lemke (Team Pedal Moraine)0:08:42
17Nick Christofalos (Activator Cycle Club)Row 16 - Cell 2
18Shane Semrow (Element Mobile)0:09:31
19Eric Grissom0:10:01
20Gary Ehrike (Safe Wheels MTB Racing Team)0:10:02
21Tony Wagner (Sheboygan Bicycle Co.)0:10:44
22Jason Gibson (Gear N Up)0:12:34
23Nathan Tock (BIkes Ltd / Scenic Concepts)0:15:15
24Thomas Kabacinski (XXX Racing AthletiCo)0:16:26
25Martin Tank II (Wheel & Sprocket / Vision)0:16:51
26Matt Dale (Eriksen Cycles)0:17:56
27Gary Meader (Team 360)0:20:36
28Krystian Pac (RBIKES.COM)0:21:07
29Brad Tennis (Sharks)0:21:10
30Cody McGrath (Culver's Racing)0:22:11
31Chris Harrison (Eriksen Cycles)0:38:50
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Cat. 2 Sport men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Mark Adams1:17:06
2Collin Kytta0:00:30
3Jeremy Ostrowski0:01:38
4Scott Nyland0:02:33
5Payson Partridge0:04:30
6Steve Reichel0:04:36
7Mark Schultz0:04:39
8David Carew0:04:55
9Mitchell Dreher0:05:11
10Terry Prewitt0:05:15
11Ben Leach0:06:13
12Charles Girkins0:06:23
13Ben Lasecki0:07:17
14Jody Arlen0:08:49
15Jeremy Drake0:09:05
16Joshua MucinskiRow 15 - Cell 2
17Martin Reza0:09:12
18Clive Warren0:09:14
19Patrick Blakeslee0:09:15
20Brayden Schott0:09:16
21Anthony Van Asten0:09:18
22Todd Fletcher0:09:33
23John Grosz0:09:56
24Roy Bailey0:10:05
25Ted Kretzmann0:10:13
26Jonathan Nehring0:10:16
27Cory Marty0:10:46
28William Ringeoldus0:11:03
29Anthony Dombrowski0:11:33
30Jason Mork0:11:41
31Matthew Paterson0:11:48
32Kagen Mantz0:11:54
33Ron Smith0:11:59
34Dave Reich0:12:23
35Kent Jenema0:12:27
36Jamie Prange0:12:33
37Don Freitag0:12:35
38Ken Bozych0:12:38
39Dave Diamond0:12:45
40Kevin Lisowe0:13:01
41Erik Backhaus0:13:07
42Brian Paterson0:13:13
43Joshua Wood0:13:25
44Ruben ValdezRow 43 - Cell 2
45Jason Zellner0:13:33
46Chris Roddick0:13:38
47Nicholas Armstrong0:13:46
48Nolan Steig0:13:54
49Brian Doherty0:14:46
50Scott Palmersheim0:14:57
51Jeff Wren0:15:09
52Jay Gunderson0:15:37
53Jeff Greatens0:15:39
54Jim Steig0:15:55
55Steve Ericksen0:15:58
56Zeke Dombrowski0:16:00
57Brian Coppock0:16:16
58Michael Gordon0:16:26
59Bill Styer0:16:46
60Rich Baumgarten0:16:56
61Loren Darling0:17:11
62Keith Westendorf0:17:16
63Steve Kapaun0:17:45
64Steve Drecoll0:18:05
65Joe Vanderpuy0:18:33
66Jason EcclestoneRow 65 - Cell 2
67Dirk Racine0:18:34
68Rob Hofmann0:18:38
69Jim Feuerstein0:19:30
70Chad Wilson0:20:07
71Warren Heise0:20:18
72Josh Rupnow0:20:39
73Tom Wendland0:20:41
74Larry Hipps0:20:43
75Michael Laufenberg0:20:46
76Andy Trewyn0:20:58
77Darrin Kolka0:20:59
78Michael Block0:22:46
79Dain Trittau0:23:40
80Ron Odekirk0:23:41
81Gerald Sorce0:24:36
82Dave Dahlman0:28:10
83Garrison Gless0:28:22
84Brent Williams0:28:54
85Adam ZellerRow 84 - Cell 2
86John Heyerholm0:29:43
87John Senkerik0:30:14
88James Mistark0:30:56
89Mike Wanek0:31:10
90Troy Olm0:33:40
91Reed Griffiths0:35:15
92Doug Rodenkirch0:35:28
93Peter Walton0:36:33
94George Doty0:36:41
95Sterling Schmidt0:38:53
96Scott Graff0:41:10
97Todd Nutter0:44:43
98Chad Hoppe0:46:49
99Patton Neuser0:47:18
100Randy Feuillerat0:47:34
101Robert Maloney0:56:07
102Frank Sniadajewski0:58:45
103Frank Lobello1:00:27
104Michael Kaspar1:03:14
105Robert Langlois1:12:24
106Paul Traeger1:19:33
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Cat. 2 Sport women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jenaiya Stolper1:39:46
2Jeanne Hornak0:03:05
3Mary Hable0:03:44
4Brittany Nigh0:05:30
5Christine Griesbach0:09:32
6Ivonne Menendez0:10:42
7Maja Holcomb0:12:23
8Amy Statz0:17:08
9Jennifer Clark0:18:45
10Alex Christofalos0:18:58
11Andrea Roberts0:19:21
12Lynne Senkerik0:19:55
13Rachel Drake0:28:10
14Heather Marty0:34:32
15Arin Lemke0:38:59
16Helmy Tennis0:39:08
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Cat. 3 Citizen men
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1George Kapitz0:37:29
2Jonathan Wollner0:00:44
3David Dokman0:01:09
4Mark Hanson0:01:35
5Josh Kruit0:01:39
6Robert Hoefert0:01:41
7Troy Krysh0:01:46
8Mike Nass0:02:00
9Justin Wentworth0:02:06
10Jeremiah Pritzl0:02:12
11Rick Johnson0:02:47
12Jim Krajnik0:02:55
13Jon Veldboom0:03:04
14Jack Knutson0:03:10
15Brad Jorsch0:03:17
16Nathan Knowles0:03:22
17Derrick Reinke0:03:31
18Jake Eigenberger0:03:39
19William Meyer0:03:59
20John Norman0:04:06
21James Grenier0:04:22
22Jake Miller0:04:29
23Jacob Bons0:04:44
24Alexander Pieper0:05:21
25Benjamin Fullerton0:05:27
26Billy Alverson0:05:37
27Dave Hanrahan0:05:56
28Kurt BaehmannRow 27 - Cell 2
29Dean Fredricks0:06:00
30Philip Melotte0:06:04
31Allen Brost0:06:12
32Michael Dutczak0:06:22
33Jeff Pitts0:06:23
34John Granger0:06:31
35Steven Brown0:06:32
36Matthew Kletti0:06:35
37Edward Eigenberger0:06:40
38Nathan Hofmeister0:07:00
39Loren Beyer0:07:11
40Daniel Gretzinger0:07:16
41Rowan NormanRow 40 - Cell 2
42Jacob Ahles0:07:31
43Tim Wilda0:07:40
44William Darling0:07:56
45Joe Guse0:08:16
46Jesse Steinhoff0:08:20
47Scott Knaffla0:08:22
48Mike Becker0:08:25
49Greg Mann0:08:27
50Owen Reich0:08:28
51Eric Zarwell0:08:38
52David Powell0:08:54
53Anna Poulton0:08:59
54Carver Hass0:09:02
55Brian Toltzmann0:09:12
56Cole Huffman0:09:20
57Kenneth Pearson0:09:33
58Max Fischer0:09:47
59Chris Endres0:09:53
60Scott Vale0:10:02
61Benjamin Gasper0:10:10
62Brad Sippel0:10:35
63Thom Brown0:11:08
64Joe Woelfle0:11:13
65Rob Wolk0:11:14
66Garth Post0:11:32
67Scott Barclay0:11:35
68Cory Griffith0:11:40
69Tony Young0:11:43
70Andrew Baldyga0:11:44
71Jason Huff0:11:47
72David Gavinski0:11:48
73Michael Slimmer0:11:51
74Patrick LeichtnamRow 73 - Cell 2
75John Hocker0:12:03
76Dorian McFarlane0:12:28
77Andrew McDicken0:12:40
78Aaron Frink0:12:44
79Greg Spende0:12:47
80Matthew Meyle0:12:56
81Ben Vansluys0:12:59
82Jordan Jazdzewski0:13:00
83Steve Slocum0:13:03
84Mike Farrell0:13:27
85Micah Christiansen0:13:41
86Todd Somers0:14:03
87Hayden Brost0:14:18
88Alex Wichmann0:14:36
89Shane Holcomb0:15:27
90Keith Eggebrecht0:15:42
91Jeffrey Schwinn0:16:06
92Benjamin Wilda0:16:52
93Rod Janssen0:17:13
94Adam Fleming0:19:10
95Tony Smet0:20:17
96Donald Howell0:20:18
97Dennis Kinkert0:21:05
98Brance Modin0:21:29
99Joseph Masterson0:22:26
100Jimmy Splittgerber0:22:29
101Reo Owens0:22:53
102Brian Smith0:24:01
103Timothy LiepertRow 102 - Cell 2
104Wally Sniadajewski0:26:39
105Ricky Almaguer0:27:01
106Jesse O'Boyle0:27:18
107Alex Hansen0:27:25
108Justin Thompson0:27:43
109Matthew Crave0:27:56
110Jerry Cooper0:30:13
111Raymond Melotte0:30:30
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Cat 3 Citizen women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Linda Baehmann0:51:10
2Kaitlin Splittgerber0:01:31
3Laura Granger0:05:11
4Heather Liepert0:09:11
5Brianna Smet0:09:33
6Melissa Kennedy0:10:19
7April Knudson0:11:29
8Sara Kinsella0:14:05
9Kennedy Bowes0:35:48
10Lisa Zimmerman1:17:50
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Cat 3 Junior men and women
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Calhan Norman0:32:27
2Alexander Halfman0:00:01
3Carter Warren0:01:06
4Samuel Spende0:01:26
5Porter Thorpe0:01:37
6Christian Pieper0:01:41
7Nick Niemi0:01:47
8Cole McDicken0:01:58
9Mitchell Dutczak0:02:08
10Hannah Stedl0:02:22
11Allison Pieper0:02:50
12Jackson Jennings0:03:15
13Hunter Schmitt0:03:33
14Sam Komoroske0:04:10
15Jonah Whitedog0:04:28
16Lydia McDowell0:05:38
17Dylan Eggebrecht0:06:08
18Ethan Baher0:06:50
19Camden Jackson0:08:10
20Lorissa Thorpe0:09:42
21Hanna Mork0:09:59
22Skyler Schmitt0:10:51
23Ethan Janssen0:12:24
24Matt Rodenkirch0:12:34
25Leah Fletcher0:13:08
26Grant Slocum0:14:27
27Dwight Eben0:14:47
28Kaleb Moore0:15:44
29Griffin May0:16:16
30Katy McDicken0:16:18
31Grace McDowell0:18:38
32Jacob Mork0:19:28
33Reed May0:20:27
34Brody Endres0:21:10
35Emma Osborne0:21:18
36Lucas Fletcher0:21:25
37Nick Georges0:27:40
38Stephen Liepert0:28:06
39Miette Gosse0:28:25
40Jack Spende0:29:20
41Grace Harold0:30:00
42Sebastian Armstrong0:30:31
43Justin Munzur0:30:42
44Aryana Knudson0:30:53
45Colin Knowles0:33:56
46Caleb McDowell0:34:15
47Ryan Brown0:40:22
48Will Knowles0:40:37

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