McCutcheon and Slack Take Wins in 2016 East Canyon Echo Road Race – Report, Complete Photo Gallery, Results, Video

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Mindy McCutcheon (Canyon Bicycles Shimano) leads Breanne Nalder (Visit Dallas DNA) at the 2016 East Canyon Echo Road Race on April 16, 2016. They are shown here near the summit of Hogsback. They finished 1-2 in the women's Pro-3 field. Photo by Dave Iltis
Mindy McCutcheon (Canyon Bicycles Shimano) leads Breanne Nalder (Visit Dallas DNA) at the 2016 East Canyon Echo Road Race on April 16, 2016. They are shown here near the summit of Hogsback. They finished 1-2 in the women’s Pro-3 field. Photo by Dave Iltis

By Dave Iltis

On a sunny but chilly spring day, the East Canyon Echo Road Racetook place in Henefer, Utah on April 16, 2016. Promoted by James Zwick of Sports-Am, the race is one of Utah’s classic road events.  The race starts with a 5 mile climb from Henefer to the top of Hogsback, with a descent to East Canyon Resorts, back up the stair-step climb to Hogsback and out to the Echo Canyon and back to Hogsback for the finish. Close to 200 racers including Colorado’s Fort Lewis College Skyhawks lined up for the 60-mile road race (14 for Juniors, and 40 for Women 3/4 and Women Masters).

Complete East Canyon Road Race photo gallery at gallery.cyclingwest.com

In the women’s race, Mindy McCutcheon (Canyon Bicycles – Shimano) showed her strength by leading up the return climb from East Canyon Resorts. The women’s field was largely intact at the top of Hogsback. From the turnaround and through through Henefer again for the third ascent to the Summit-Morgan County Line, the field was down to Breanne Nalder (Visit Dallas/DNA Cycling), Mary Emerson (TOSH Hyperthreads), McCutcheon, Jenna McPherson (Fort Lewis) and a bridging Anne Perry (Canyon Bicycles Shimano). Nalder pulled for most of the climb with McCutcheon in tow. With McCutcheon’s teammate Anne Perry not far off the pace, she had the luxury of sitting on. When it came to the final kilometer, it was all McCutcheon for the win. Nalder came in second with Perry a bit back in third. Emerson was fourth, and Fort Lewis College’s Jenna McPherson in fifth. “I kind of made her work then managed to just drop her in the last 1k. She’s probably not too happy I sat on her wheel for the last four miles. But hey, that’s bike racing,” said a happy McCutcheon. McCutcheon and Nalder are both off to New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila in early May.

Mindy McCutcheon Interview:

 

In the Men’s pro race, Canyon Bicycles Shimano controlled the race throughout. Impressive, given the presence of one of Utah’s best pro road racers, Robbie Squire (Holowesko Citadel Racing Team pb Hincapie Racing), as well as the super strong Fort Lewis College Skyhawks Team. Canyon sent Michael Wilcox off early, and continued to launch attacks throughout.

Rob Squire at the front of the strung out Pro/1/2 men's field in the 2016 East Canyon Echo Road Race on April 16, 2016. Photo by Dave Iltis
Rob Squire at the front of the strung out Pro/1/2 men’s field in the 2016 East Canyon Echo Road Race on April 16, 2016. Photo by Dave Iltis

On the second time to the summit of Hogsback, Cortlan Brown and Mitchell Peterson (Canyon Bicycles-Shimano), and Rob Squire had a slight gap. This didn’t last however. Erik Slack and Kaler Marshall (both Canyon riders) attacked on the downhill into Henefer. That didn’t last either. Eventually, a break of 6 or so riders formed.

With Canyon rider Joe Waters in the break at the Echo turnaround, it was up to Fort Lewis to chase, which they did admirably, bringing young gun Cormac McGeough up to the break. “There was brutal headwind up along the Interstate until the turnaround. The team got to it, started rotating just doing excellent work. Like textbook from Team Sky kind of business. I was just hanging out, watching them, shedding tears, it was just beautiful,” said McGeough.

As the chase got closer to the break, several riders made it across including McGeough, Slack, and Peterson.

The Fort Lewis rider more than held his own on the finishing climb despite being outnumbered 3-1 by the local powerhouse Canyon Bicycles Shimano squad. He attacked the break several times. Peterson closed the gap, bringing Slack along with him. Eventually, Brown bridged to the group of three, and immediately attacked them. Slack and McGeough jumped on, dropping Peterson.

At the finish, Cortlan Brown led out Erik Slack with McGeough just behind. The two battled in the big ring for the eternity of 250 meters, with Slack winning by a few inches over McGeough as both riders threw their bikes at the line. Brown rallied in for third, with Mitchell Peterson and Kaler Marshall (both Canyon riders) taking 4th and 5th. McGeough continued, “I am happy with second. It was a lot of passion, a lot of energy. The team did fantastic. This is a stepping stone on the way to Collegiate Nationals. The team’s working great, and I’m looking forward to that.” Slack was all smiles with his win, “The team went first, third, fourth, and fifth. So we’re pretty happy with that.”

Erik Slack Interview:

 

Cormac McGeough Interview:

Erik Slack (left) just beat Cormac McGeough with a bike throw at the finish of the 2016 East Canyon Echo Road Race on April 16, 2016. Photo by Dave Iltis
Erik Slack (left) just beat Cormac McGeough with a bike throw at the finish of the 2016 East Canyon Echo Road Race on April 16, 2016. Photo by Dave Iltis

Master’s 45+

In the Master’s 45+ Cicada Racing’s Christophe Heinrich and Duane Allgier rode together for an hour and half, but were caught by a group of 3. On the final climb, Heinrich again attacked half way up the climb to solo in for the win.

Christophe Heinrich Interview:

Men’s Cat 4

In the Men’s Cat 4 race, James Lavelle of Cicada Racing took the win. “The group was pretty competitive for most of the race. It stuck together but the last climb kind of blew everybody up.” Lavelle was with three others at the base of the climb, “I ended dropping them when I took off at the bottom of the climb and just tried to ride hard to the finish.”

James Lavelle Interview:

 

See results on page 16, and a full photo gallery at gallery.cyclingwest.com

East Canyon Echo Road Race Results, April 16, 2016

MenCat 1/2/3/435-991JiJames
2gavinstorie
3JaredKirby
4KunzIsaac
5DavidBagley
6HigleyTyler
Cat 3/415-991WilGavato
2GaryHurst
3CharlieMacfarlane
4GabrielGutierrez
5JesseDunn
6DaxtonKennington
7DarrinTuckett
8PrestonWeeks
9EthanDepman
10DerekEdwards
11MayorAdam
12ODonnellLiam
13BenCook
14WestonWoodward
15NathanManwaring
16JohnWheeler
17BruceDeppe
18MichaelRollins
19AlexanderRosero
20EdwardsTyler
21MarkOtterson
22HallShawn
23TroyGorman
24BryanFroehlicher
25BrandonAnderson
26AndrewFast
27EliasGreen
28CaseyNielsen
29nathancurtis
30NickLoyola
31LeeSchultz
32PrestonEdwards
33AndrewJudkins
34SamuelDearden
35CourtneyLarsen
Cat 415-991LavelleJames
2SamuelMcBride
3AndyCompas
4BryanHull
5DerrickJames
6AbbotSam
7AnsonKirchner
8BenjaminDerieg
9TroyHuebner
Cat 4/535-991SpencerJohnson
2ShaneDangerfield
3LucasParker
4BenRaybould
5WheelwrightAlan
6WarlsmontDemica
7JasonLinder
8RickMiller
9NelsonZac
10DraganFilipovic
11JasonBraithwaite
12EricAnderson
13NorrisKeith
14MarkAlston
15BreenHolmes
16FerrellJim
17AaronBranham
18MichaelDean
19MartySlack
20BryonDangerfield
21JamesHunter
22EricScaife
23WayneButler
24CagleCody
25GreggWeight
Cat 515-991HaydenSampson
2HarperGarrison
3CamireJoseph
4MarkSmith
5GoranMehinovic
6RyanHobson
7benjaminbelisle
8DillonJanda
9kellycallister
10BarettChristensen
11EricBarnes
12MattTennison
13TimFrost
14AndrewYapias
15BradleyWood
16DavidHowell
17ShawnMontmeny
18JoshuaGilbert
19stevengilbert
20JakeMeyer
21ColeWarner
22SteveMarteney
23TJGibson
open14-Oct1ViggoMoore
2RyderJordin
3LukeHeinrich
4JackShuckra
5IanFrederick
6NathanLamborn
7DawsonWangsgard
45-991ChristophHeinrich
2JohnMcKone
3AndrewLock
4FogartyMike
5EricDupuis
6GregSironen
7KevinSmith
8DwaineAllgier
9AlexLizarazo
10MikeLoveland
11StephenTueller
12ScottAllen
13DearJess
14VigenSarkisian
15TonyPeterson
16cLarson
17NickEkdahl
18RonNiederhauser
19ToddWangsgard
20BillyTenhagen
55-991MarkSchaefer
2RickBlack
3ArmstrongDon
4HunsakerJerald
5NormanFrye
6JeffClawson
7MiguelPayan
8CallRavell
9BradMatlack
10JimStugelmayer
11DonaldLeach
Pro Cat 1/2/315-991ErikSlack
2CormacMcGeough
3CortlanBrown
4MitchellPeterson
5MarshallKabes
6RobertSmallman
7IanMcPherson
8SquireRobert
9HansonWill
10MulvihilTim
11MichaelFerrell
12JaredGilyard
13CastorJason
14ToddHageman
15RyanSzabo
16ShaunJohnson
17WatersJoe
18JERAMYMARTIN
19JamesHilyer
20
21ThomasGauthier
22BalogEric
23AndreBos
24FowlerThomas
25michaelbooth
26JosephStewart
27JorgeMunoz
28MichaelHawley
29EricGardiner
30EmmanuelGagne
31BarnetIan
32BrownKyle
33SirurnikIan
34HarwardDave
WomenCat 3/415-991WadeNina
2WhitneyMentaberry
3AnnabethDean
4ErickaTowery
5BowmanAnnette
6SullivanAnne
7ShannonTuddenham
8AngelaHowe
9EdsbergCamilla
Open35-991MasterRoblynn
2HinsakerKelly
3NeiderColleen
4LorriZenoni
Pro Cat 1/2/315-991MindyMcCutcheon
2NalderBreanne
3AnnePerry
4MaryEmerson
5JennaMacPherson
6FryeAlison
7jilliangardner
8MarciKimball
0DarcieMurphy
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