The team traveled to Banner Elk, North Carolina this weekend to compete in one of our favorite events of the MTB season. This three conference collegiate event brings schools from all over the country together to compete against each other and always serves as a nice test to see where we stand against the best schools heading into Conference and National Championships.

The weekend started with the Men's and Women's Cross-Country Race (XCO). The race was contested on a very technical 18-minute circuit with lots of climbing and difficult descents.  Everett Radock, William Dodds, Griffin McMurray and Maya Tasse' took the start against the most competition they will see all season. As the race went on, riders abandoned due to fatigue, crashes and mechanical bike issues. Maya suffered a bad crash and left the race with a head and shoulder injury while Griffin could not finish due to a flat tire and damaged wheel. Everett and Will overcame and endured the challenges of the course, managing to finish in 18th and 22nd out of 75 starters.  This was such a respectable and impressive result for both riders. Aidan Goldberg finished in fouth place in the Cat 3 men's race, just off the podium.

Sunday started with a Team Relay Short Track Race, in which the loss of Maya the day before left the team wondering how they could still enter the race. Lauren Weigel stepped up to the challenge and took the position of the injured Maya, and the team was able to race, finishing in a solid 10th place.

Then there was the most highly contested Short Track Men's Race. We entered four riders. William, Everett and Griffin were joined by CycloCross specialist, Geert Fischer. 90 riders took the start of this super-fast one-mile course that they would race laps of for 25 total minutes. More than half the field would be pulled before the finish, which is the nature of this kind of race with so many participants and such a short lap. William Dodds had an epic ride, starting in the mid-20s and moving into 13th place by the end of the race. He was right there battling it out against the best riders from the best schools, inching closer and closer to the front of the race with every lap. Everett finished in 33rd, Geert in 55th and Griffin in 63rd.

The weekend concluded with the Downhill Race, which only Everett would contest but the whole team would stay to support their teammate as he took on a downhill segment lasting less than two minutes. In this style of racing, riders are shuttled to the top of a mountain, they hear the start whistle and then ride as fast as they can on a single-track trail to the bottom of the mountain. A total of 120 riders took the start to compete for the honors of winning the race. Everett finished in 61st, a nice middle of the pack result for someone who doesn't focus on DownHill racing currently but will in a few weeks when he competes for the omnium title in Grand Junction, Colorado at the Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals. He is ready!!

Next up, Conference Championships for Everett at Ride Rock Creek in North Carolina, while the rest of the team lines up at the Virginia's Blue Ridge GoCross CX Event held every year here in Roanoke, Virginia.