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FCI NEWS

2009 USA Cycling Junior National Road Race Championships - July 28 - August 2

Frazier Cycling Juniors bring home seven medals

Zoe Frazier wins Road Race National Title

 

By Ralph Frazier

 

August 4, 2009

 

Twenty Frazier Cycling Juniors competed in this year's USA Cycling Junior National Road Race Championships in Bend, Oregon, from July 28 through August 2.  We represented the largest Junior team to participate in the event.  The Bryds, Boise, Idaho, had 17 racers.

 

Frazier Cycling Juniors captured seven medals: three by Zoe Frazier, three by Abigail Aldridge, and one by Brody Hartley.  This championship was Zoe's fourth year competing in a Junior national championship event and she is our all-time national medal leader with nine in her career, including two national titles.  This was the first time that Abigail and Brody competed in the national championships. 

 

Zoe Frazier, 14, led our team by winning her second career national title with a thrilling sprint victory in the Women's 13-14 (age group) road race.  She won two more medals by placing second in the Women's 13-14 12-km time trial and third in the Women's 13-14 criterium. 

 

Abigail Aldridge, 12, also won three national medals.  She was the silver medalist in the Women's 10-12 road race, fourth in the Women's 10-12 12-km time trial, and and third in the Women's 10-12 criterium. 

 

Brody Hartley, 12, collected our seventh medal with his fifth place finish in the Men's 10-12 12-km time trial. 

 

In addition to our medals, we had many outstanding performances.  Here are a few:

  • Melissa Goodman and Dominique Shore were solid in all of the Women's 13-14 events.  Both were always near the front during the races and the finishes.  They played major roles in contributing to Zoe's medal performances. 

  • James Todd was ninth in the Men's 10-12 12-km time trial.

  • Philip O'Donnell had the best time trial for 13-year-olds in the Men's 13-14 12-km time trial (10th place) and his seventh place in the Men's 13-14 criterium was also the top 13-year-old placing. 

  • Andrew Macrae was very much in the hunt for medals in both the highly competitive Men's 13-14 road race (7th place) and criterium (12th place).

  • David Goodman had a super race in the Men's 15-16 criterium.  He finished in the sprint of the main field that included the event winner.  Most racers could not maintain the intense pace with a few laps over 30 mph on the technical and difficult 1-km course.

 


Frazier Cycling Junior National Road Race Team Members

 

Abigail Aldridge, Women's 10-12

Zoe Frazier, Women's 13-14

David Goodman, Men's 15-16

Melissa Goodman, Women's 13-14

Adi Gummadi, Men's 10-12

Nina Gummadi, Women's 15-16

Teja Gummadi, Men's 10-12

Brittney Hartley, Women's 15-16

Brody Hartley, Men's 10-12

Andrew Hodges, Men's 15-16

Fletcher Lydick, Men's 13-14

Hunter Lydick, Men's 17-18

Andrew Macrae, Men's 13-14

Rishi Mocherla, Men's 10-12

Philip O'Donnell, Men's 13-14

Dominique Shore, Women's 13-14

James Todd, Men's 10-12

Sam Tomaka, Men's 15-16

Alex Wexler, Men's 10-12

Ethan Zehr, Men's 17-18

 

Congratulations to all team members!

 


It's Zooooeeeeee FRAZIER!!!!!

 

BEND, OR - On Tuesday, July 28, 2009, Zoe Frazier won a thrilling sprint finish to become the 2009 USA Cycling National Women's 13-14 Road Race Champion.  Zoe had teammates Melissa Goodman and Dominique Shore supporting her in the 30-km race.  The race included five laps around a on the hilly 5-km lollipop loop situated about 2.5-km from the start/finish.  I nervously stayed at the finish with several parents and team members.  Coach Kelli stationed herself at the bottom of the loop where she gave us race reports via her cell phone during the first four laps.  Nick Frazier was at the feed zone near the hilltop about one mile from the beginning of the loop.  He gave us race reports after the girls topped the hill.

 

Katrina Howard, Vapor Racing, was the three time National Road Race Champion of the Women's 10-12 classification.  Katrina won most of these races with a very strong sprint; however, she is not known as a climber.  Now 13 years old, she was a favorite to win this race.  Another favorite in the race was Sarah Huang, 14, NOVA IS Corp, who was the defending national criterium champion and another good sprinter.  Sarah is an excellent climber, too.

 

After the first lap around the lollipop, the field was down to ten racers including Zoe, Melissa, Dominique, Sarah Huang, and Katrina Howard.  Over the next two laps, Zoe, Dominique, and Sarah Huang had made several attempts to drop the "sprinter", Katrina Howard, on the big hill after the feed zone.  With every lap, Nick reported that Katrina was put into difficulty by Zoe and Sarah.   But by the time they reached the bottom of the loop, Coach Kelli reported that the ten racers were back together.  As the racers started their final loop and the final climb up the hill, Coach Kelli headed back to the finish.

 

Nick gave us his last report from the feed zone where he watched Zoe, Sarah Huang, and Sara Youmans, Bryds, breakaway on the hill and they dropped Katrina Howard and the rest of the field.  There was about five miles to go and from that point until the racers entered the final straight away, we had to rely on the race announcer's report, which he received via radio from the officials following the racers on the course.

 

A few minutes after Coach Kelli arrived at the finish line, the race announcer updated the spectators, "With three miles remaining, Sarah Huang, Zoe Frazier, and Sara Youmans are in a breakaway with a sizeable gap."  With this information, I was feeling very confident that we would get a medal.

 

After a few minutes, the announcer updated the crowd, "The racers have entered the final kilometer. The officials are reporting that Katrina Howard has made a monstrous move and she has brought the main field back to the leaders.  They should be all together and we should be seeing them in the final straight very shortly!" 

 

Oh no! What seemed like a sure medal became total doubt!  The group was back together - now there were more competitors to challenge for the victory.

 

"Race radio reports that Sarah Huang has just attacked with less than a kilometer to go and she has opened a gap.  Now we have word that Zoe Frazier is trying to bridge the gap."  At this point, there is nothing you can do but "hope".  I was hoping that Zoe could catch Sarah and have a chance at winning a national championship.  After a few tense seconds, which seemed like minutes, the announcer said, "Now we are hearing that Sarah Huang is still off the front as they approach the final turn into the straight!"

 

I was standing about 70 meters from the finish and Coach Kelli was down the straight away, around the 100 meter mark.  I strained my eyes in anticipation for the groups arrival through the final turn into the straight away.  It seemed like a long wait and then...

 

"It's still Sarah Huang on the front sprinting for the stars-and-stripes!  And it's Katrina Howard leading the entire field sprinting behind her!"  As the announcer was shouting, I scanned the front - where's Zoe?  And there, near the outside barriers was that familiar tiny cyclist dressed in our blue kit blazing up the straight away.  In an instance she blew by Katrina and she was even with Sarah... "And it's..."  "It's Zooooeeeeee FRAZIER!!!!!" with total surprise the announcer exclaimed.  When Zoe drew even with Sarah with 60 meters to the line, Coach Kelli and I simultaneously through our arms upward in celebration with certain victory because there was no stopping that little freight train!

 

Zoe's interview on womenscyclingmag.com

 

Complete results at 2009 USA Cycling Junior National Road Race Championships Results