It's the beginning of March and that can mean only one thing: cycling season. Well, that's what the beginning of March meant for the Hamilton College Cycling team as they traveled to Piscataway, N.J., for their first race ever at the Rutgers Classic Race Weekend on March 4 and 5. The team was founded last fall and competes in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC).
Compared to the arctic temperatures of beautiful Central New York, the 20-degree temperature in Piscataway seemed tropical even with the 20 mile per hour winds. In any case, the conditions weren't perfect for cycling. But 11 HC riders braved the elements to compete in the race: on the women's side, Adele Paquin '07 and Hannah Winer '07, and for the men, Nathaniel Brewster '07, Chris Gardner '06, Brook Wolcott '06, Stephen Frederick '09, Chris Abbott '06, Michael Gruen '06, Andrew Kurz '06, John Adams '06 and Jonathan Rees '06.
The weekend began with time trials where the Hamilton team finished in 25th of 33 teams. The trials were split up into two groups of women riders ('A' and 'B') and four groups for the men ('A', 'B', 'C' and 'D'). Despite first race jitters, Hamilton riders fared well. Paquin finished in 44th of 69 riders in women's group 'B' and the men had six riders finish in the top 40 of 92 riders in group 'D', including Wolcott and Frederick who finished fourth and eighth, respectively. Gardner finished 14th of 81 riders in men's group 'C'.
Later that same day was the criterium, the second race of the weekend. With a large number of riders and a short, 6/10 of a mile course, the field was split into two divisions placing large Division I schools in one race and Hamilton and similarly sized schools in Division II. Once again, the Hamilton team finished in 25th. Paquin and Winer finished in 19th and 25th, respectively in women's group 'B', and for the men, Frederick picked up a fifth place finish in group 'D' and Gardner finished 35th in group 'C' despite a crash early in the race.
Sunday brought the final race of the weekend, the circuit races. The circuit race was a three-mile course with a difficult uphill finish. Hamilton finished 26th, with Winer finishing 46th of 68 riders in women's group 'B', and three riders in the top 20 in men's group 'D'. Frederick finished 6th, putting him in the top 10 for the third straight race, Abbott finished 15th and Adams ended up in 17th. The men's group 'C' had 92 riders, and Brewster finished 27th.
With their first race behind them, the Hamilton team can look back and learn from their experience. Their next race is March 11 and 12 in Philadelphia. It's only March; there are brighter skies and warmer months ahead for the Hamilton College Cycling team.
Find out more about the Hamilton College Cycling team at www.hamiltonbike.com.
- Mike Kennett
