The first elite titles of the 2019 Mountain Bike National Championships were contested yesterday in the Enduro. Multi-Time Enduro World Series (EWS) Champion, Richie Rude (Redding, Conn.: Yeti-Fox Factory Racing), returned to Mountain Bike Nationals after a ten-year hiatus to decisively win the Men’s Pro title by 41 seconds, while Amy Morrison (Carson City, Nev.) took first with a time of 30:10, 17 seconds ahead of second place finisher, Cindy Abbott (Austin, Tex.).
“It was pretty nice to win today, I haven’t been to National Champs in about 10 years and last time I competed it was in Colorado so it was pretty nice to win,” said Rude, “I haven’t had a chance to race Enduro yet for a National Championship so it was cool to be out there.”
“I’m super proud to win the Stars-and-Stripes Jersey,” said Morrison, “I put together some really clean stages and pushed my physical limits further than I thought I could in the demanding stages. I had a good feeling all day with my riding and could not be happier that I lined it up with a win. I’ve raced overseas a number of times at EWS and other enduro events and I’m always proud to represent the U.S., having the Enduro [National] title now is a great feeling as I continue to race.”
The day also saw National Titles contested for the older Masters Cross-Country racers, including 86 year-old fan favorite Fredric Schmidt (Waco, Tex.) successfully adding another stars and stripes jersey to his collection.
“The course was very interesting and I enjoyed it, it certainly pointed out a lot of the deficiencies in my mountain biking skills as I have not been riding my mountain bike for about a half a year, I broke my pelvis last summer practicing for Leadville,” said Schmidt, “all I need to do is do more mountain biking, but I made it and it was fun.”
Laura Trace (Portland, Ore.) who earned her second National Title winning the Women’s 50-54 category has made the event a family affair.
“I have my husband and two sons that are both racing,” said Trace, “They are both doing the downhill and my older son also did the Enduro this morning. It’s great to be able to come to an event and all compete.”
Racing continues Friday with the remaining non-UCI Cross-Country categories, Pro Dual Slalom and Pro Downhill qualifiers.
Complete Results for the day’s races can be found here: https://legacy.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2019&id=21
Start lists for USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships are available at https://www.usacycling.org/article/2019-mtb-nat-champ-start-lists
Schedule of events for #MTBNats is available at https://s3.amazonaws.com/usac-craft-uploads-production/documents/Nat-Champ-Docs/2019/2019MTBScheduleFINAL.pdf
Daily highlights will be posted on YouTube and Facebook
Photo galleries will be posted daily on Facebook and Instagram
Follow racing action on Twitter on the @USACyclingLive handle, @USACycling on Instagram or with the hashtag #MTBNats
Event webpage: https://www.usacycling.org/events/national-championships/2019-mtb-nat-champs
Visit USACycling.org for more information on the athletes, events and membership programs.
For more information, please contact Kelly Fox at apalermo@usacycling.org
