U23 Champion (Photo by Amy Dykema)

The Elite Women and U23 events were run concurrently and
Ashley James won the U23 women’s championship honor in this event. 

James, shared that she arrived in Bend, Oregon three days prior to the race which left plenty of time to build up nerves!

Due to weather conditions, the course conditions left all competitors in a guessing game till race time. But that’s all part of the fun of cyclocross she remarked.

Weather woes aside, Ashley James had a forty minute break between the finish of the U23 race and the start of the Collegiate Women’s race. She indicated that she did not have any defined goals going into these races. James, said “I started near the back of the 100 woman field (our small U23 field was combined with elite women) so I wanted to try and move up at the start.”

In the collegiate race, she acknowledged that she had a front row start and hoped to get in the main group and race from there. While watching the multiple races all week, spectators witnessed a number of unpredictable crashes that left racers running for the pits in icy conditions.

James, stated that, she really hoped to have smooth races and was fortunate for a mechanical free weekend. She felt lucky and extremely grateful to have friends’, collegiate teammates, Team Kenda teammates, and home state fans- who made the weekend go smoothly. She said, “the cross atmosphere is so supportive. With this thought James looks forward to 2010.

Later in the day, Ashley James (Lindsey Wilson College), Jennifer Greenberg (Lees McRae College) and Kristin Jo Markham (Lees-McRae College) achieved top 10 performances in the Women Collegiate D1 race segment at the USA Cycling Cyclocross Championship in Bend, Oregon. James earned the silver medal while Markham (Lees-McRae College) placed 4th and Greenberg placed 8th place respectively.

Greenberg reports that she felt ok, but thought maybe she left too much pressure in her tires. She said, “perhaps it was just my bike handling, but I was sliding all over the place.”

“I got a great start, but crashed in the first lap at a crucial dividing part of the course (the up down run up) and the top five got a way from me.” As a result, she never made up the gap to get back on.

Greenberg is content with her top ten placing despite having a rough couple of days in Bend, Oregon. Her set backs started with the post office losing her shoes followed with falling down the stairs and bruising her ribs and hurting her knee.

“I was super excited about achieving my goal of getting on the podium at my first nationals. Additionally, I really enjoyed the muddy conditions of the course and glad the ice thawed in time for our race by late afternoon on Sunday. Definitely crashed a few times and had a few bobbles, but it was a ton of fun!,” said a thrilled Kristin Jo Markham.