ECCC Rutgers 2010

And they’re off, with that the 2010 ECCC road season has officially begun, and already McGill has shown why it is a force to be reckoned with. The first weekend of the year down and although Cycling@McGill may not have made the same splash at Rutgers as it did in 2009, the infamous McGill bus of Rutgers 2009 but left the sports crazy town of Piscatawy, New Jersey by making a splash with the newly recruited tri-athletes. With 4 wins, 7 podiums and 13th overall McGill had an extremely successful weekend showcasing the talent of Canadian university cyclists, and hopefully a sneak-peak of things to come this season. The weekend was filled with first-race jitters and some uncomfortable riding as most riders were just getting their feet wet, and there were an abundance of crashes, luckily McGill athletes made it through without any serious injuries. The weather New Jersey had to offer was great, the mornings were a rude awakening but with temperatures topping off in the mid-teens and the sun constantly shining, there was certainly nothing to complain about, and just getting most racers excited about the prospects of a summer return, though next time to the Jersey Shore.

Men
As the first McGill rider to race in 2010, Seth Davis made the team one for one by winning the opening Time Trial in commanding fashion by putting over 10 seconds on the rest of the men’s D field, he later capped the day (and potentially his D career) off by winning the criterium after pulling the field around the course for the last few laps.
In men’s B Brandon Tulloch’s racing made an argument that a week in South Carolina climbing Sassafras may just be the best pre-race training you can get. Finishing 3rd in the road race and 7th in the crit and was highlighted by achieving what many cyclists would consider a lifetime goal, your sprint finish picture making velonews.com

Men’s C had a great weekend, Scott Loong rode an impressive Time Trial, ending up in third, as did Nicolas Bastien Lepine who placed 12th.
The road race also proved to be a great race as McGill managed to have 4 racers crack the top 15 with John Danby, Nicolas Bastien-Lepine, Scott Loong and (the now legal in the United States) Nick Chin-Yee all having great races, also honourable mention goes to Peter Thornhill who broke away from the pack for a few laps before getting swallowed in the final laps and Scott Loong, who was part of a crash early on and still managed to get back in the thick of things.

In Intro, resident photographer and rookie racer Max Dannenberg caped an impressive weekend, consistently finishing in the hunt and like Brandon, showing just how worthwhile the spring training camp can be.

Women
With McGill’s biggest haul of the weekend McGill triathlete and rookie extrondaire
Jozina Vander Klok started out in intro, but after demolishing the Intro women’s field in both the Time Trial and Criterium she made the move to womens C, where with the help of Veronica Wheeler, Allison Grover and Karen Bodie placed 3rd in the road race, ending an extremely strong first weekend of racing.
Karen Bodie raced to a 9th place finish in the ITT, 11th in the crit and finished off a string of great races with placing 13th in the road race. Climbing queen Veronica Wheeler rode a great crit, to complement her 11th in road race by finishing in 8th and with Allison Grover right there with her for 9th.

-drew childerhose