- Tallahassee, FL -
Results
Racing in the second SECCC Mountain Bike event this fall held in Tallahassee, Florida, three members of Mercer Cycling competed in the short track and cross country races. Gabe Denes and Elizabeth Lee, two of the usual suspects on Mercer's team traveled as did newcomer Charles Weaving, a freshman Vocal Performance/Biology major out of Lawrenceville, Georgia.
In the short track race, a race around a 500 meter course that resembles a criterium, Gabe Denes showed power early on, rocketing to the front, but dropped back to the pack later in the race to finish 6th in Category B. Elizabeth Lee also looked strong in her second place finish in the Women's B category while Charles Weaving had the most interesting short track race of them all.
After leading 12 laps of the race, Weaving heard a loud pop coming from his front fork in what resulted as a destroyed rim. Running across the finish line with his bike in hand, Weaving still managed to salvage a 4th place finish in the 'C' group.
The next day, two of the three riders saw 1st place finishes in the cross country event. After buying a new rim, Weaving took his first collegiate victory after passing slower traffic in front of him and Elizabeth Lee held off a trio of riders from Warren Wilson College to take the top spot in Women's 'B'.
Unfortunately, Sunday's race wasn't easy for Denes as he crashed 6 times in the sand, breaking a seatpost and doing plenty of damage to his bike. Despite the wrecks, Denes fought back from 7th to finish 4th in his second race of the mountain bike season.
