We had a super weekend at the Tour de Tuscaloosa.  It was a two day race with criteriums on Saturday and road races on Sunday.  There was lots of competition and there was big prize money.

Saturday, March 27, 2010 - Downtown Criterium - Philip O'Donnell and Andrew Macrae: "Stars of the Criteriums"

Our most thrilling race of the weekend was Saturday's Men's Cat. 3 criterium.  Andrew Macrae, 15, and Philip O'Donnell, 14, finished 2nd and 3rd in the Men's Cat 3 criterium race (there were nearly 50 starters).  They almost caught a solo break artist (Daniel Banks), who had a 30-second-plus lead on the field going into the final lap. Philip led out Andrew and they dropped the field closing within one second of the exhausted winner! They gave Frazier Cycling our best finish ever for a Men's Cat 3 race - 2nd and 3rd place! This was accomplished after Philip had won the Junior 10-14 criterium and Andrew had finished 3rd in the Junior 15-18 criterium earlier in the day.

Junior's 15-18 Criterium: David Goodman, who's recovering from a broken collar bone, finished 2nd just ahead of Andrew.  Andrew had made an early break with the eventual solo winner, Ben Gabari, 18, Hot Tubes.  After a few laps of burning up the course with the Cat. 2 junior, Andrew dropped back with the chasing group of five.  He sat in to recover for a final sprint and with the hope that his teammates could join him.  Meanwhile David Goodman, 17, had been dropped by the field, but he was rescued by our hero of the race, Ethan Zehr, 18.  David attached himself to Ethan's group that included our Andrew Hodges, 16, and Russell Tindol, 17.  Ethan put forth the majority of the effort that brought our team back to the chasers; thereby, setting up our two places on the podium!

Junior's 10-14 Criterium: As mentioned earlier, Philip O'Donnell was the overall winner.  He led the race from start to finish.  James Todd, 12, and Teja Gummadi, 12, were first and second, respectively, for the Junior Men 10-12.  Abigail Aldridge, 13, was first for Junior Women 13/14.

Women's Cat. 1/2/3 Criterium: Nowadays, Zoe races with the BIGS. In Saturday's Women's Cat 1/2/3 Criterium, Zoe Frazier, 15, secured 4th place in the Women's Pro-1-2-3 race.

Women's Cat 3/4 Criterium: Dominique Shore, 14, had a great  race. The Women's 3/4 field was broken up after the second lap.  Dominique made the split with the lead pack where she stayed for the whole race.  Dominique finished 5th .
 

Sunday, March 28, 2010 - Lake Lurleen Road Race - Philip O'Donnell wins again

Junior's 13/14 Road Race (20 miles): Philip O'Donnell, 14, cruised to another victory by taking the 20-mile Junior 13/14 road race.

Junior's 15-18 Road Race (30 miles):  Andrew Macrae, 15, took second place overall as he was nudged out at the finish-line by Krystal Cycling's Tim Killelea, 18.  Andrew Hodges, 16, finished third in the race.  Their places earned the "Andrews" the top two medals for the Junior's 15/16 age group.

Junior's 10-12 Road Race (10 miles):  James Todd fought his way to third place in the downhill sprint finish.  Our team dominated the next four spots with Alexander Dijkema, 12, in fourth place, Teja Gummadi, 12, in fifth, Adi Gummadi, 11, sixth, and Rishi Mocherla, 12, seventh.

Women's Cat 1/2/3 Road Race (30 miles): Zoe Frazier, 15, finished 3rd.  She spun out on the downhill finish in her top junior gear.  This circumstance plagued our junior racers all day.  I believe it would have been different for Zoe and many of our other juniors in the Category races if the finish-line was situated on an incline.

Women's Cat 4 Road Race (30 miles): Stephanie Cucaz, 17, overcame all disappointments of not making the break in Saturday's Women's 3/4 criterium by staying with the lead group and finishing in the money.  Stephanie finished in 7th place.  Dominique Shore, 14, was in eleven place and Lisa (Hodges) Bongiomo was 17th among the 24 finishers.

Men's Cat 3 Road Race (50 miles): Andrew Macrae, 15, and Philip O'Donnell, 14, entered their second race of the day.  These juniors raced a total of 80 and 70 miles, respectively.  Philip finished 10th and Andrew finished 16th.  David Goodman placed 21st.

Men's Cat 4 Road Race (40 miles):  This race looked as though we were going to have the same kind of result that we had in the previous day's Men's Cat 3 criterium until a crash with less than 500 meters took out our most promising positions.  Andrew Hodges, 16, and Sam Tomaka, 16, were sitting pretty in top positions when a racer near the front touched wheels at high speed and took out eight racers including Andrew and Sam.  Two of the fallen were strapped to stretchers and taken to the local hospital.  After flipping over his handlebars sky high, Sam landed with just a few scrapes. After a few minutes, he remounted and went on to finish in 41st place.  Hodges was not able to continue on his wrecked bike.  He received treatment and the paramedics instructed him to have X-rays taken of his wrist.  Amid the carnage, Russell Tindol managed to snake through the debris at high speed and he went on to finish 19th in the huge field sprint of 29 racers.

Men's Pro-1-2 Road Race (70 miles): Joe Rosentel completed his Cat 2 road race debut by finishing 20th among nearly 50 starters.

Master's Men Road Race (50 miles): Johnny Mayero finished 16th.

Complete results for 2010 Tour de Tuscaloosa