Downieville crowns two Classic winners
Giant's Adam Craig made an auspicious race debut, winning both events. (Downieville Classic)
The 2009 Downieville Classic, dubbed the All Mountain World Championships, saw Adam Craig (Giant) and Katerina Nash (Luna) take home the Pro categories July 12.
The Downieville Classic -- so named for its location in a historic northern California gold-mining town -- attracts riders from all over the world to compete in two events: a 29-mile cross-country course with 3,000-feet of climbing, and a 17-mile downhill event. The catch? Both races must be done on the same unmodified bike. Lowest combined race time results decides the winner of each category.
Cross country results
The 29-mile cross-country course follows a rugged "Gold Rush" era route that departs the mountain town of Sierra City (elevation 4,100 feet), climbs to the crest of the Sierra Nevada (elevation 7,100 feet), and then plunges 5,200 vertical feet into downtown Downieville.
Craig, racing his first Classic, set a new course record with a time of 1:52:04 on July 11, beating 2008 All-Mountain champion Ross Schnell’s record by nearly five minutes.
Luna's Katerina Nash won her two events handily as well over the weekend
Nash won the All-Mountain Pro women’s division, finishing in 2:14:14. Willow Koerber (Gary Fisher-Subaru) and Kelli Emmett (Giant) finished three minutes later, with Koerber only six seconds ahead of Emmett, at 2:17:33 and 2:17:39, respectively.
Downhill results
The 17-mile Super-D style course took riders up 1,000 feet while descending 5,333 feet into the streets of Downieville. Craig started 33rd in the day’s stage and passed five racers on the way to victory, setting another course record. His time of 43:48:03 took 45 seconds off defending champion Schnell’s 2008 record. Craig took the overall men's pro title over Jason Moeschler (WTB-Santa Cruz) with a combined time of 2:35:52.
Nash won stage 2 by two seconds over defending champion Rachel Lloyd, finishing in 49:52:02. Nash's combined times gave her the overall women's pro title by four minutes ahead of Lloyd overall.
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