Keogh, Tyrrell win tough battles for OBRA championships

Aug 7, 2010 by editor

TROUT LAKE, Wash. — Rubicon-Orbea’s Quinn Keogh crossed the line for his first-ever OBRA Road Race Championship in the Senior Men’s event Saturday and used the opportunity to remind spectators that he is a cancer survivor. In the Senior Women’s race, CAPA Cycling’s Leia Tyrrell followed up last weekend’s Vancouver Courthouse Criterium win with another fast finishing kick to take her first OBRA road race title.

Keogh finished with teammates Mike Northey and Roman van Uden nearly four minutes ahead of Team Oregon’s Chris Swan, who soloed in for fourth ahead of Idaho’s Gabe Vaelo (SDBC), John Browning (Echelon Gran Fondo/ZteaM) and a disintegrated field. Hot, humid conditions combined with strong winds and a difficult course to turn the championship races into battles of attrition, with 40 percent of the starters abandoning before the finish and many popping off on the short-but-sweet climb just five miles into the course. The men’s Cat 3 race was hit especially hard, with exactly half of the 36 starters dropping out.

Keogh escaped the field about 12 miles into the 92-mile race and was quickly joined by Browning and Swan on the back side of the course. Northey and van Uden then bridged to the leaders amid local auto traffic on the difficult 10-mile rolling climb back to the start/finish for the beginning of the second lap.

“They came from nowhere,” Keogh said of his teammates joining the lead trio. “I just heard them come on and say, ‘Hey’.”
The group grew to seven as they started up the first climb of the second lap after Taylor Kneuven (Adageo Energy) and Vaelo also bridged to the leaders. The chase behind from the decimated field was soon whittled down to about 10 riders as the leaders rolled well together over the mostly flat backside of the course that led to the long, fast descent. Kneuven popped off the lead pace when he suffered a broken spoke, but the group’s advantage grew to more than two minutes as they made the tight right-hand corner to head north back to the finish. Without really attacking, the Rubicon trio then shed Vaelo, Browning and eventually Swan on the difficult headwind ascent back to Trout Lake.

“All the people who dropped were cramping,” said Keogh, who admitted he had been fighting leg cramps as well for most of the final miles. “It didn’t seem that hot, but with the strong crosswinds today people were working harder than they normally would. I was cramping every couple of minutes. I’d have to stand and hope that it wouldn’t totally seize.”

Once the three teammates shed their rivals, they set their sights on putting Keogh on the top step of the podium for his first OBRA championship. Keogh crossed the line just ahead of Nortthey and van Uden, taking the moment for a symbolic victory salute.
“I’m very proud of them,” he said of his teammates. “They really gave it to me, so I’m thankful for that.”

TYRRELL ADDS STATE TITLE TO SUCCESSFUL SEASON

The Senior Women’s race proved another opportunity for CAPA Cycling’s Leia Tyrrell to use her fast finishing kick and add another notch on her season. The young rider, who competed for Oregon State U. collegiately, took the bronze at collegiate criterium nationals and was invited to participate on a composite team for the NRC Nature Valley Grand Prix. Saturday she won a bunch sprint after a difficult 46-mile race that selected its lead group just a few miles into the race.

The women tackled one lap of the large Trout Lake/Glenwood loop for their 46-mile event. Just like the men’s race, the power climb just five miles into the clockwise course quickly separated the contenders from the day’s sufferers. Ironclad performance Wear’s Anona Whitley, who won the separately scored Cat 3 race, led the group up the climb with Tyrrell and Sorella Forte’s Jen Akeroyd in hot pursuit. The three opportunists tried to pull away but a group of about 12 riders quickly joined them and formed the lead group that would ride into the finish. After swooping down the long descent and turning back north into the headwind and rolling climb, the jockeying for position started to in full force.

“There was a lot of shifting around because no one wanted to be up front,” Tyrrell said. “I knew Brenna (Lopez-Otero) was really strong so I wanted to be near her, and I just waited. I knew I need to wait and be pretty close to the finish.”

With Veloforma, Akeroyd, River City’s Amy Campbell and others sharing the pace at the front of the group in the closing kilometers, Tyrrell hung close Lopez-Otero’s wheel and waited to pounce.

“Close to the line Brenna jumped out, and I knew to get on her wheel because she’s really strong,” Tyrrell said. “Then I just came around her.”

Campbell crossed the line next for second, followed by Lopez-Otero, Veloforma’s Tina Brubaker and Akeroyd rounding out the top five.

Check the PHOTO GALLERY for this race.

RESULTS
OBRA Road race Championships
Saturday, Aug. 7

Senior Men (92 miles)
1. Quinn Keogh (Rubicon-Orbea) 3:53:06
2. Mike Northey (Rubicon-Orbea) 3:53:06
3. Roman Van Uden (Rubicon-Orbea) 3:53:06
4. Chris Swan (Team Oregon/Laurelwood Brewery) +02:52
5. Gabe Vaelo (SDBC ACL/No Coer D’Alene) +03:06
Senior Women (46 miles)
1. Leia Tyrrell (CAPA Cycling) 2:13:09
2. Amy Campbell (River City Bicycles) 0:00
3. Brenna Lopez-Otero (Bend Memorial Clinic Total Care) 0:00
4. Tina Brubaker (Veloforma) +:01
5. Jen Akeroyd (Sorella Forte) +:01
… … … … … … … … … … … … …
Men Cat 3
1. Brown, Kyle (Team Bike Tires Direct) 3:02:09
2. Wells, David (Life Cycle Bike Shop) 3:02:10
3. Hunter, Steven (Portland Bicycle Studio) 3:02:10
4. Prettyman, Joe (Beaverton Bicycle Club) 3:02:11
5. Laubernds, William 3:02:12
Women Cat 3 (scored separately from senior Women’s Race)
1. Whitley, Anona (Ironclad Performance Wear) 2:13:12
2. Osborn, Maire (Life Cycle Bike Shop) 2:16:01
3. Kaplan, Jessica (Therapeutic Associates Cycling/GENR8) 2:18:36
4. Chinburg, Megan (Veloforma) 2:18:36
5. Atwill, Amanda (Hammer Velo) 2:19:39
Juniors 10-12
1. McElroy, Grant (Beaverton Bicycle Club) 0:34:07
2. Field, Rubin (Mtn View Cycle) 0:42:08
3. Melkonian, Davis 0:43:10
Juniors 13-14
1. Rosenberg, Sam (Hutch’s/Co-Motion) 0:34:07
2. Webb, Emerson (Beaverton Bicycle Club) 0:35:45
3. Stallings, Dawson (Bend Endurance Academy) 0:36:49
4. Perrin, Jake (Hutch’s/ClearOne/Bend Dental) 0:38:17
5. Meckonian, Micah 0:40:45
Junior Women 13-14
1. McDade, Hannah (Beaverton Bicycle Club) 0:41:04
Women Cat 4
1. Champion, Amy (Pacific Power Blue Sky) 1:06:56
2. Kostur, Ruth (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Cycling Team) 1:06:56
3. Cass, Vanessa (Ironclad Performance Wear) 1:06:57
4. McDonald, Tawnie 1:06:57
5. Clark, Anna (Ironclad Performance Wear) 1:06:58
Men Cat 4/5
1. Keeler, Matt (University of Oregon Cycling Club) 2:06:57
2. Sampson, McKanize 2:06:57
3. Lang, Timothy( Portobello Bicycle Racing) 2:07:28
4. Cady, Joshua (yclepath Racing) 2:07:28
5. Johnson, Ben (Portland Velo) 2:07:52