Boyne Marathon

Photos by Masterlink





Team racers Simonster, Joberon, John Meyers and Jason Lummis headed up to Boyne Falls for the Boyne Marathon.

Simonster won, Jason was 4th and John 6th & Joe 12th.

Jason Lummis' data from the race: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=3252152

Full results and reports up soon !

Joberon:

Boyne rocks! The coolest most challenging course around. It has it all and would be the perfect course for a national event. Remember the Schuss Mtn. days? Imagine bringing that size of an event back to Michigan. Mike and I were discussing how cool it would be to see the likes of Kabush, JHK, Craig, Emmett, McConneloug and Koerber rippin around Boyne.
Mike and I made the drive up the morning of the race. No traffic, perfect weather and great trail conditions. So far so good. The race start is quite flatand gives you that "I'm feeling great" kinda feelin'. I was 3rd wheel behind myteammates Mike and John. With the first set of climbs looming ahead I was happy with my position. After the first bit of undulation and Robert Herriman(AC&F) coming around to push the pace I could tell I wasn't feeling it after all. Midway through the lap I totally blew up and couldn't have pedaled myself out of a paper bag. It was one of those annoyingly painful races/rides. Uncomfortable the entire time. Unable to find a gear to get me through. Believe me, I tried them all. After a couple of minor tumbles I decided to go into survival mode. If orced myself to ride the race out and try to enjoy the sweet course. I finished 12th in the end way off the lead pace. I was disappointed. Mainly due to not being able to fully enjoy the ride. Boyne is a beast when you're having a bad day. In the end it was worth the efforts. It certainly made for a full on action packed weekend. Just how I like it. Great job to my teammates and everyone who raced.
Joe

Jason Lummis:

Made the last minute decision to head up to Boyne Falls for the Marathon XC race.... Made the 3+ hr trip in the am to arrive to some nice weather. My teammate John and I had a buddy we didn't know we had in common Rich (aka Masterlink) local legend of the snow and Big airs. He came over from the Highlands to say Hi !

I had to get back home asap as my wifes father puts on the local Fireworks show on the lake I grew up on and her sister was in town with the nephews and niece. Cool thing though my niece turned 16 on the 7th and her little brother turned 7 on the same day = 7 on 7/07/07 it was a fun night and great show (almost as good as the 1 from our wedding reception, but longer).

Ok racing----4 laps a little over 9 miles a lap and just over 1000ft of climbing per lap.The 4 of us grabbed the leadout with the Holeshot King John Meyers taking us into the single track. The Simonster was here to play and new he had it in the bag. He kept the pace some what mellow till Herriman pushed it up and the John pushed harder with in the first few miles we where moving out. End of first lap Herriman and I caught up to a dirty John and Mike was hiding behind some building waiting for us or something like a wrong turn?!? John caught back up and Mike came flying by. I just stayed on Herrimans wheel knowing he was my only worries as John and Mike where on the same page as me. John clipped a pedal and went down. I couldn't look back because Herriman was upping the tempo to stay with Mike. 3 laps of Mike toying with Herriman and myself. Lap 4 I faded a little and was holding 3rd and could see a youngster Brent coming from behind. About this time my seat breaks and I am getting pinched hard on the bottom every time I sit down. Great, the whole middle part of this course was a series of climbs with 1 long one till the top then basically all down hill to the finish. I was standing most of the climbs, because of the pinching factor. Brent caught me about 1/3 of the way to the top. He had maybe 20 secs over the top. But I was not worried and closed most the gap thru lapped riders. I was about 5 secs back and 2 more lappers to get by as we crossed the golf cart path, I had announced my placing and wanting to pass as we rocketed across the path. Squeezed by the first guy easily and the second guy just keeps going. He wipes it on a sandy downhill corner taking us both out, game over as I pull my hand out of his spokes and get on 2 wheels again. All downhill from here with too much time to close. Brent takes 3rd and I get 4th. Tad bit bitter as I had to pay an extra fee to race Elite because of a prize purse and a lapped rider wont yield and takes me out and I lose my chance to contest for a higher placing and cash prize. That's 2 races in a row --- Riders being lapped need to yield and the promoters need to announce this over and over again. Passing responsibly is up to the racer over taking a rider, but there needs to be an acknowledgement that they need to accommodate the faster racer.

Lapped riders must yield to leaders. (This applies to a lead rider overtaking another class) Riders should voice the command “track” when overtaking another. It is the responsibility of the challenging rider to overtake safely. You must yield to the passing rider on the first command. (NORBA rule 5.12.3)

Yeah- Not a NORBA race but a good rule to put in place in any race situation !