Photo Gallery: 2008 US Short Track Nationals

Short track. In other words: A suffer fest where you’re either on the gas or getting pulled. And even if you’re on the gas, you might get pulled. It’s just that kind of race--20 minutes of being deeeeep in the pain cave. Plus one lap. It’s a great way to find out what you’re made of.

The women’s race is made out of Rocky Mountain goodness. Namely, Katie Compton. The transition from just racing cyclocross to doing MTB short track started a couple of years back with a surprise win at Sea Otter against a strong field. Today’s race was also against a strong field, and Katie pretty much rode away from everybody. Mary McConneloug almost bridged up to her near the end of the race, but saw that the effort would be just too much, and settled into an undisputed second place. Which made it a three-way battle for third between Kelli Emmett, Willow Koerber, Lea Davison. Lea Davison made her move with a lap plus to go to solo in for the third spot, followed by Kelli and then Willow.

To win the men’s race, it turns out you’re made of gnarled up maple wood, with local-ish rider Jeremiah Bishop taking the top honors. This was definitely a bit of a surprise despite last week’s showing in the Windham, NY STX race, as JB’s more of a Marathon guy (he owns that national title, too). The race shook out with Ryan Trebon taking a flyer off the front in the third lap, looking for a solo win a la Katie Compton’s race only an 90 minutes earlier. At first, it looked like it was going to stick, but he burned too many matches on the surge, and was caught a few laps later by Wicks, Craig, Decker, and JB. Then JB pulled the Trebon move: he punched it at the top of the steep climb and put the hammer down. And it stuck; he got away clean and stayed away to take the victory. Barry Wicks, Carl Decker, JHK, and Adam Craig closed out the podium.