*This fellow competitor kindly allowed Kate to sit on his wheel into the head wind. Just shows the amazing racing spirit in mountain biking!
First of all, thank you to Dan Marshall and his amazing crew of volunteers that braced the cool temperatures and put on a fabulous event! The conditions were very tough for the Homage 2 Ice event and that is putting it mildly.
It was a relentless course with the road section challenging rider stamina with a fierce head wind, double track/ATV trail anything but solid ground with anywhere from 2-4 inches of mud often disguised by a layer of fallen leaves, punchy climbs, and oh ya snow and ice!
Kate Kaikkonen was our Pedal Power racing representative for the Full Marathon event, and Kerry Gale was the amazing team support and photographer. The course this year was 3 laps and approximately 55-60km in total. Kate had a fast start and was able to get just over a minute lead on her fellow woman competitor. Kate held this lead going into lap 3, but then some tunnel vision and lack of attentiveness lead her to blow past a turn off the double track into some single track. By the time she got her bearings and a fellow rider from Duke's racing team saw her off trail and called her back she had lost too much time and settled for a well earned second place to a very strong competitor!