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Clayville sets record
By Jack Kintner
In an event that
only a cyclist could love, but, boy do they ever, 271 riders ranging in age
from 13 to 62 climbed 4,300 feet in the 24.5 miles between Glacier and the
end of the road at Artist’s Point on September 18 in the third annual
Mt. Baker Hill Climb.
Eleven of them broke the
course record on a nearly perfect, windless day. Race coordinator and former
pro rider Charlie Heggem saw the number of participants almost double from
last year’s dreary,
rain-soaked mash. “Besides the great weather, they just paved the road
this summer,” he added, “so it’s going to be a good ride,
and a fast one.”
Though technically not
a race, fully a third entered the event as competitive riders, starting an
hour behind the recreational group that left Glacier at 8 a.m. in a colorful
swirl of spandex for what organizers were eager to point out is a traveling
palindrome: a 24.5 mile ride on Washington State Highway 542. Nick Clayville,
22, of the Western Washington University cycling club set a new course record
of one hour,23 minutes and 58 seconds, almost three minutes better than the
old mark. Since only nine women registered for the competitive group they
were relegated to starting with the men, and that seemed to help last year’s winner
Lise Grace, 40, of Bellingham. She rode the course over seven minutes faster
this year in a women’s record time of an hour and 34 minutes, 15 seconds
on her composite-frame (as in plastic) Kestrel.
The ride was set up as
a benefit for the Ken Meyer Memorial Foundation, named after a Bellingham
rider who was once a state and national champion. Foundation coordinator
Paul Clement said that a little over$4,000 was raised for cancer care and
research. |
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