24 Hours of Moab This Weekend

24 Hours of Moab, endurance racing, Moab, mountain biking, Utah | UltraRob | Saturday, October 9th, 2010 at 4:02 pm

The 16th Annual 24 Hours of Moab is going on this weekend and is the USA Cycling 24 Hour National Championships. I raced it solo 4 times with the last time in 2001. The last 2 years I’ve gone and shot photos. I’m at home this weekend but wishing I were out there.

In the Men’s Solo, winner Josh Tostado is back to defend his title. Last year’s 2nd place finisher, Kelly Magelky, is also back and I’m sure he’s looking to move up a spot on the podium. He actually had some faster daylight laps than Josh last year but was slower during the night. As I write this, they’ve finished 3 laps and Kelly is less than 3 minutes ahead of Josh. Last year 4th place Ernesto Marenchin is also back.

2009 Defending champion Eszter Horanyi isn’t back this year but 2007 and 2008 winner Jari Kirkland is. Kris Cannon, who finished 2nd in 2008, is also racing this year.

In the Pro Men’s class, Kalan Beisel from last year’s winning 4 person team is teamed up with 3 different very fast pros racing as the Honey Stinger/Trek team. The other 3 are Len Zanni, Jay Henry and Ross Schnell. I’ll be surprised if they don’t win the championship. Last year’s 2nd place team, Hammer Nutrition is back with 3 of the same racers as last year.

Although there are 3 women’s Pro 4 person teams, I don’t see any names that stand out. In the past the Coed Pro/Am class was very competitive but I don’t see any teams entered in it this year.

Granny Gear has perfected putting on 24 Hours Races and even in the remote Moab location they have nearly real time standings online. The race runs from noon Saturday and noon Sunday. Unlike some other 24 hours races, laps started before noon but not completed by noon count so some teams don’t finish until 1 PM or later.

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