Evergreen cyclist wins Berry Creek Blast

Eagle Valley graduate Landon Stovall had one takeaway from the Berry Creek Blast Wednesday night.

“Robbie Day is really fast,” the Eagle Valley High School graduate said of his Bear National Team comrade.

“That’s the takeaway.”

Day dusted the dusty three-lap, 10.8-mile race in 57 minutes, 51 seconds to claim his second straight town series win. The Evergreen 21-year-old, a junior at Colorado College and 2022 member of the USA Cycling national cross-country mountain bike team, also won the Camp Hale Hup on Aug. 2.

“It’s always fun to win a race – it was fun to race with Landon,” Day said.

The pair leisurely pedaled up the initial eight-percent climb on Berry Creek Road during the first lap, chatting the whole way.

“I didn’t get out early enough for a pre-ride, so I decided first lap would be pre-ride,” Day explained.

He ramped up the pace on the second lap.

“We definitely hammered quite a bit harder,” Stovall said. “It was no longer chatting pace.”

Day exited the singletrack for his third revolution with a 25-second lead over Stovall, who was about 90 seconds in front of third-placer Aiden Brown. Day knew he had “a good amount left” to pour on for the final lap.

“I was already pretty maxed out and I just tried to keep him in sight,” Stovall said, adding that he felt stronger on the second lap than he has in some time. He paid for trying to stay with Day, though.

“That attack kind of killed me the whole last lap; I was just in survival mode.”

Stovall (59:38) settled for silver while the 17-year-old Brown (1:00:52) was third. While Day is eying a pair of North American mountain bike World Cups at the end of September and beginning of October, Gravel Nationals on Sept. 9 is Stovall’s next big event. The 88-mile race will also be his final one in the 17-18-year-old category. He’s shooting for the category title.

“I’m definitely going to try and end it on a good note,” Stovall stated.

Meanwhile, on the women’s side, Suzie Snyder also took home her second-straight town series win (1:13:05), as Tamara Donelson (1:19:39) placed second.

Currently sitting sixth in the overall XTERRA World Cup standings, Snyder knew she’d be bringing tired legs to Wednesday’s race — her final hard effort before XTERRA Beaver Creek on Aug. 26.

“Didn’t feel great — definitely at the end of a hard training block,” the 41-year-old admitted. “I wasn’t expecting to feel good; it’s just about doing one last hard effort.”

Since earning a pair of top-10 finishes at the XTERRA Belgium World Cup back in June, Snyder’s been mixing in heavy training with a few fun races. She competed at Big Horn Gravel and the Firecracker 50.

“Just been a lot of training and working on climbing and hills – running especially,” she said. “Just putting in work and hoping it pays off.”

At the 2022 XTERRA USA championships in Beaver Creek, Snyder placed second to Lesley Patterson, a Scottish triathlete, but as the top-placing American, earned her fifth national title. With the USA championships returning to her home trails, Snyder has her sites set on claiming a sixth.

“Take the win, ideally. Number two goal is at least be the first American,” she said. “It’s always just do my best, focus on the process and whatever happens, happens.”

Though the race is in her backyard, Snyder doesn’t think familiarity with the trails or altitude acclimation necessarily lend her a massive advantage.

“It’s not a real technical course – the descents are twisty, so I’ve been trying to learn them as best I can and try to make that an advantage, but there’s really only so fast you can go, whereas your fitness in the climbing is probably going to be more important,” she said.

“So, just trying to work on all the things and be comfortable, because I think confidence and being comfortable is more of an advantage than anything else.”

The first cyclist to actually cross the line — albeit on a shorter course — also has some XTERRA aspirations. Jennifer Razee took the women’s vet expert (35-49) win in 54-minutes flat, just 10 days after placing second overall in the Emerald Mountain Epic Queen competition (which adds together competitors’ times from a 50-mile mountain bike on Saturday and a 26.2-mile run on Sunday).

“It was great. I thought it was great conditions, I always love riding with these ladies,” she said of Wednesday’s 9.2-mile effort.

“It’s a super fun group — we just push each other. It’s fun to have that because I feel like you don’t push yourself unless you have a little bit of a competition; it’s hard to go out and ride that hard by yourself.”

Razee is hoping to be in the mix in the XTERRA amateur women division on Aug. 26.

“Just have fun,” she added to her off-road triathlon goals. “And keep the rubber side down — always the first goal!”

Full results are available at VailRec.com.