Killington
posted
Jul 3, 2012
At the USA Cycling National Championships in Augusta, Ga., the
weekend of June 23, the Killington Mountain School (KMS) Cycling
Team took multiple podiums including a national championship
title.
Brendan Rhim, of Norwich, won the Junior Men 17-18 Criterium
National Championships in a 140-man top-notch field including full
teams from all of the top junior programs in the country. On
Sunday, Ansel Dickey, of Truro, Mass., muscled his way to the line
in a massive 127-rider field sprint and finished with the bronze in
the Men's Junior 17-18 Road Race Championships, earning the 10th
top-10 KMS result of the championships.
Rhim took top honors with a time of 1:06:21. Dickey finished
just hundredths of seconds behind the top two spots in the road
race with 2:25:22.
Erin Donohue (Women Junior 17-18), also from Norwich, and Ian
Clarke (Men Junior 13-14), of Killington, Vt., both took
fifth-place finishes in their respective categories in the Time
Trial Championships on Thursday. Donohue finished with a time of
30:14.752, and Clarke finished in 14:03.670.
"We had success in the time trials with a very old school plan
to race for the turnaround like it's the finish line and then do a
second race on the way home. With a slightly uphill outstretch, it
worked the charm," said Head Coach Peter Vollers. "In the criterium
and road race, it was all about avoiding the 'blender effect' of
the front of the field where kids move up on the outside but then
get immediately sucked back through the middle. If you stay behind
that, rubber stays on the pavement and legs stay fresh until
they're needed when it counts most."
Other KMS Cycling Team finishes in Augusta included a pair of
top-10 finishes in the Junior Men 15-16 class for Woodstock's Peter
Vollers, Jr.-seventh in the time trial and ninth in the road
race-as well as Turner Ramsay's three top-15 finishes in the Junior
Women 10-12 category, taking ninth in the time trial and 11th in
the road race and criterium events. Clarke also took eighth in the
Junior Men 13-14 road race and 12th in the criterium; Donohue took
sixth in the criterium and seventh in the road race.
USA Cycling is comprised of more than 2,500 clubs and teams; and
70,800 licensees, which include officials, coaches, mechanics, race
directors, and competitive cyclists of all ages and abilities
across all five disciplines of the sport. Each year, USA Cycling
sanctions over 3,000 events across the U.S. Additionally, the
organization administers 11 national-level calendars and manages 17
national championship events for all ages and skill levels in road,
track, mountain bike, cyclo-cross and BMX.
The KMS Cycling Team is the newest athletic program to be
offered to student-athletes at Killington Mountain School. The team
is coached by Peter Vollers and Greg Hadley, and all technical
support is provided by Dan McKenna of The Start House Ski and Bike
Shop in Woodstock. Riders are introduced to junior level cycling
that showcases and promotes interscholastic as well as
USAC-sanctioned junior level bicycling racing. There are three
competitive tracks: the first, for dedicated student-athletes who
wish to pursue road cycling, mountain biking and cyclocross racing
development at an elite level, it is a year-round athletic program
offered in conjunction with the KMS full-term academic program; the
second is a junior development team comprised of student-athletes
between ages 8-14 that introduces younger athletes to competitive
cycling; the third track is for KMS winter sports athletes pursuing
cycling on a limited basis in the spring and fall.
Tagged:
KMS cycling team, USA Cycling National Championships
