Backing up a third-place finish in a tough short-track mountain bike race Friday night, Durango’s Howard Grotts added a second-place finish Saturday in the cross-country mountain bike race at the Sea Otter Classic.
Anton Cooper of New Zealand, who was second in the short-track behind Switzerland’s Nicola Rohrbach, won the eight-lap race in 1 hour, 24 minutes, 7 seconds. Grotts, the 25-year-old Olympian and three-time defending cross-country mountain bike national champion, was second in 1:24:32. Rohrbach finished third in 1:25:29 at the marquee Sea Otter Classic race in Monterey, California.
“It’s really cool to see those international riders come over,” Grotts said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “Anton just got second at the Commonwealth Games, which is huge. He’s riding really well right now, so I was happy to get second.”
Grotts said it was a warm day with ideal race conditions. The addition of another speed climb to this year’s course made it even more physically grueling, he said.
“It was definitely somewhat tactical. In the end, it still came down to who was strongest,” Grotts said.
Cole Paton of Fort Lewis College finished 12th in 1:29:45. Former FLC rider Ryan Standish was 13th in 1:29:59. Durango’s Payson McElveen, another former FLC rider and the defending marathon national champion, was 15th in 1:30:28. FLC’s Richard Cypress Gorry finished 16th in 1:30:55. Durango’s Daniel Johnson was 18th in 1:30:57. Stephan Davoust of Durango and FLC placed 29th in 1:33:40. Durango’s Bradyn Lange finished 35th, two laps down.
“Zero snap for the first 6 of 8 laps meant following wheels and dangling inside the top 20,” McElveen said in a post to Instagram. “With two to go, people got tired and the legs came around a bit, so I snagged a few spots and snuck into the top 15.”
Annika Langvad of Denmark won the women’s cross-country and short-track races. She completed the seven-lap XC race in 1:13:04. Her Specialized Racing teammate Kate Courtney of California was second in 1:13:10. Grotts also is a Specialized Racing team member.
Britain’s Evie Richards rounded out the women’s podium in third in 1:13:12. Boulder’s Erin Huck, who had won the two previous USA Cycling Pro XCT events in Bonelli and Fontana, was fourth in 1:14:12.
Grotts and McElveen will look to longer events coming up in the near future. The Whiskey-Off Road 50-mile event is next weekend in Arizona as the first stop on the Epic Rides series. Then, they will look to marathon nationals, which is the same weekend as the Solider Hollow ProXCT. Last year, McElveen won marathon nationals and Grotts was second.
Grotts said he hopes to make it to a couple more Pro XCT events with time split between those, Epic Rides events and World Cups.
Grotts will be in town for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic in Durango and plans to ride the hometown event May 26-27. He was third in the road race last year and won the mountain bike race to earn King of the Mountain honors.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
