Two days after battling in the pro gravel race at Sea Otter Classic, Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing) and Andrew L’Esperance (3T Bike-Maxxis-Pearl Izumi) won elite races in the Fuego XL mountain bike competition.
Courtney, the reigning UCI Marathon MTB world champion, finished more than 18 minutes ahead of Emma Langley (Ventum-DT Swiss). The two were part of the 90-mile gravel race on Thursday, Courtney finishing fifth and Langley, part of the Life Time Grand Prix, 20th overall.
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‘Nowhere to hide’ for Hannah Otto on FKT atop Mauna Kea
She beat the previous record by nearly 30 minutes. However, a relentless headwind saw her effort fading with 15 miles to go and she turned a three-minute deficit into a record-breaking performance.
The route is considered by many as the hardest road climb in the world, with 13,700 feet of climbing and reaching an elevation of nearly 14,000 feet above sea level, and becomes even more difficult near the top. As the air thins with the high altitude, the final 10-plus miles turns to gravel near the summit, where Otto renewed her energy.
“It is long, exposed, and there is really nowhere to hide once you are in it. Setting the FKT was special, but more than anything, I am proud of how much went into the effort and how we were able to see it through,” Otto said in a press release about the record and the film, Infinite Pursuit.
The Utah-based rider uses the FKTs as training for endurance racing, and last year added The Kokopelli Trail near Moab to complete the Triple Crown of rides, along with the White Rim and Whole Enchilada routes, all three in the western US high desert terrain.
Along with Sofia Gomez Villafañe and Alexis Skarda, Otto is among the trio of women who have finished in the top 10 all four years of the Life Time Grand Prix. She started her fifth campaign at Sea Otter Classic Gravel last week, finishing 15th overall.
Paige Onweller overcomes hospital stay for insect sting before Sea Otter Gravel
“I definitely dug a bit of a hole racing as I was not fully recovered from the hospital admission. LTGP events are a challenge because had that been a different gravel event outside of the overall series, I likely would have not raced,” Onweller told Cyclingnews, referring to the looped course which gave her an option to bail if necessary.
“Never have I ever … suffered that much on a bike. Never have I ever … been more proud of an effort, independent of a result. I kept fighting and unlocked new levels of suffering I didn’t know possible,” she added on social media about her first time being hospitalised in the same week as a race.
Onweller’s coach, Dennis Van Winden of Orange Seal Academy, spoke about the incident on the Life Time live stream of Sea Otter Classic last Thursday. He noted that she did not have an EpiPen on her non-racing bike during a training session when the sting, or bite, by an unidentified insect occurred.
“She called me from the ICU and told me what was going on. She got anaphylactic [reaction], so she was pretty scared. Luckily, the ambulance came pretty quick,” he explained, saying she had treatment at the site and went home, but then had another episode that evening and went to hospital.
Van Winden said the academy emphasises health first, fun second and performance third, so he was surprised Onweller took the start a few days later.
“After several easy days, I am hoping to be good to go for Levi’s this weekend and then back on track,” Onweller added. A runner-up at Valley of Tears and fourth at The Mid South, Onweller is also expected to compete in The Growler at Levi’s GranFondo this Saturday, followed by Belgian Waffle Ride California on May 3.
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