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Marathon man: Wells wins again

Wells the marathon title winner for four years straight
Durangoan Todd Wells won his fourth consecutive Marathon Mountain Bike national championship Saturday in Georgia.

It wasn't quite as easy this time, but Todd Wells repeated his USA Cycling Marathon Mountain Bike national championship on Saturday on a 60-mile course near Augusta, Georgia.

The Durango multiple-time national champion in several disciplines has now won the marathon title four years in succession. He fought through some cramping in the late going, which forced him to pedal for a while with one leg, to win by 1 minute, 18 seconds over Jeremiah Bishop of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Last year at Sun Valley, Idaho, Wells won the title by a whopping 6 minutes.

“It's always amazing to win and especially a national title,” Wells wrote in an email Monday, “but the thing I'm most proud of is the completely different courses and people I've battled to win those jerseys.”

The course in Wildwood Park, north of Augusta, offered plenty of singletrack, but nothing like the climbing at Sun Valley.

“You might think a flat race (2,500 feet of climbing) is easier than climbing 8,000 feet but I never cramped in those Sun Valley races,” Wells wrote. “If you have a lot of climbing you have a lot of descending and time to rest. In a flatter (mountain bike) race there is no sitting in so you never stop pedaling. I bet I did over double the pedal revolutions this year compared to last.”

Fort Lewis College student and pro rider Payson McElveen finished 11th, 19 minutes behind Wells, a three-time Olympian. The men's start list had 35 riders.

Rose Grant of Kalispell, Montana, won the women's race in 4:45:31.

Wells said he got toward the front of a big group early in the race, and said the pack didn't break up for a while because of “continuous twisty, rolling singletrack covered in slippery pine straw.” About 13 riders were still together for the race's second 30-mile loop.

When Bishop had difficulty crossing a stream, it caused the pack to bunch suddenly and allowed Bishop to establish a gap. Wells caught him and the two “put the hammer down.”

Wells said several miles from the end Bishop slid out in a pine needle covered corner, allowing Wells to create a lead. After the cramps went away, he rolled into the finish well ahead of Bishop.

Wells, who races for Specialized, said he'll take a short break before racing the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic in Durango on May 23-25.

johnp@durangoherald.com



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