Racing elbow to elbow until the final 200 yards, Todd Wells was in position Sunday to win a second national championship in as many days.
This time, it was Stephen Ettinger of Bozeman, Montana who was able to scratch out a victory against Wells in the USA Cycling Short Track Cross-Country Mountain Bike Nationals at Bear Creek Resort, Pennsylvania.
Ettinger, who has competed neck-and-neck with Wells for much of the summer, crossed the finish line in 24 minutes, 46.2 seconds. Wells was nipping at his rear wheel in 24:50.8.
The second-place finish came one day after Wells earned the third cross-country national championship of his career, with the other two victories coming in 2010 and 2011. He entered the short track race as the defending national champion in the event.
“Man, that was a good weekend,” Wells said Sunday in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “The cross-country title is always the one I want to win, and I always consider myself a cross-country racer. It has been the most elusive for me over my career; to get another one (Saturday) was perfect.”
During Sunday’s short track race, Ettinger and Wells broke away from the rest of the field, making it a two-man race early.
“There was good drafting on the course, and neither one of us wanted to do too much work. We kept looking at each other waiting for one of us to make a move,” Wells said. “We were banging elbows side-by-side, and he ended up getting in front of me on the last single-track section, and that was the race. It sucks to get second, but it was such a fun race being so tight and aggressive.”
Sunday was another big day for one of Durango’s best up-and-coming cyclists. Christopher Blevins, the 16-year-old son of Field and Priscilla Blevins, backed up his Junior 15-18 cross-country national title he earned Friday with a second-place finish in the Junior 15-18 short track cross-country race and a third-place finish in the Junior 15-18 Super D race, a mix of cross-country and downhill racing.
Sunday’s two podium finishes added to an incredible July for Blevins, who also won the USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships criterium and road races the first week of July, giving him three national titles on two different bikes in the span of two weeks.
“This whole month has been a great experience, and it definitely was the best mountain bike nationals I’ve had so far,” Blevins said. “The junior 18-and-under category had faster times overall than the pros (Sunday) in the Super D, so I know we would have fared well in the pro field as well.”
Wells, 38, said he believes Blevins can reach cycling’s highest levels after watching his performances the last month.
“I hope he sticks with mountain biking, as a mountain biker myself,” Wells said of Blevins. “He’s so talented, and he also has BMX titles. He is so versatile on the bike, and I see him probably heading to road racing in the future just because there is a more lucrative career path. But he has the skills and the capacity to be a great mountain biker internationally, and he could put the U.S. back on the map in mountain biking.”
Hearing praise from Wells, a three-time Olympian and four-time national champion, was better than any podium finish Blevins had over the weekend, Blevins said.
“It made my weekend to hear that from him; it felt as good as winning,” the Durango High School student said. “Todd is a great guy and has been a role model for all the young Durango mountain bikers. If I can be close to his level one day, that definitely will be what I’m pushing for.”
Another Durango rider to complete the Junior 15-18 short track race was Keiran Eagen, who took 41st.
The men’s pro short track cross-country race was loaded with Durango talent. Howard Grotts finished fifth in 25:36.3. Todd Wells’ brother, Troy, was sixth in 25:42.7, and Sepp Kuss cracked the top 10 with a ninth-place finish in 25:55.2.
Other Durango riders to complete the race were Payson McElveen (21st), Stephan Davous (25th), Ryan Standish (26th) and Levi Kurlander (35th).
“You go to a big national championship race or a big race in the U.S., and it seems like Durango always has the biggest numbers in the group,” Todd Wells said. “We have so much talent that has been inspired by Ned Overend, John Tomac and Juli Furtado that it has become a tradition there. Maybe other places nobody thought of being a mountain bike racer, but in Durango it’s normal for world champions, Olympians and other great athletes walking around town. It’s normal and obtainable.”
Durango also had a few women finish the weekend strong Sunday. Teal Stetson-Lee, a former Fort Lewis College rider who now resides in Reno, Nevada, took third in the women’s pro/open Super D race and sixth in the women’s pro short track cross-country race. Kaylee Blevins, the older sister of Christopher, took sixth place in the Super D race but battled mechanical problems in a 21st-place finish in the short track race, finishing six laps down.
For Wells, Sunday’s second-place finish capped off an impressive five-week stretch. He won the Pro XCT series race in Portage, Wisconsin on July 12. He also won the U.S. marathon mountain bike race July 5 in Sun Valley, Idaho as well as a cross-country race in Colorado Springs on June 28. He also claimed a win in a short track event June 20 in Missoula, Montana.
Next up for Wells: The Leadville Race Series. He will come home to Durango for a couple of days before beginning training in Breckenridge, where he said the elevation is similar to Leadville.
“I couldn’t ask for much more. A lot of the times with endurance racing, you worry about being too good too soon when you stack up results,” Wells said. “Five weeks ago when I won the Missoula short track race and my main target of nationals was still five weeks away, I was worrying about that, but I’ve been rolling and have just had an awesome stretch.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
