Gray Patton from Pittsburgh cycles up a hill as she leads the 33-mile women's open bicycle race at the Renfrew Ras Sunday in Penn Township. Patton wound up winning the event.

PENN TWP — For Nathaniel Thompson, the hill was worth the climb.

Thompson, 23, of Frederick, Md., won the elite non-professional division of the Renfrew Ras bicycle race Sunday in Penn Township.

The 85-mile race covered five roads surrounding the Butler County Airport and included a steep hill off Meridian Road that got the best of many riders.

Of the 23 who began the 85-mile excursion, only 11 finished.

Justin Brown, 23, of Philadelphia, dropped out on the final lap.

"I got popped going up that hill," Brown said. "I fell to the back of the pack while climbing up it.

"Once you fall to the rear like that, you're not gonna catch up to the group riding together. One rider can't go as fast as a pack of riders can."

Thompson was in that pack. All 11 of the surviving riders finished together, but Thompson sped ahead during the final 200 yards, raising both arms in triumph as he crossed the finish line.

In his fourth year of competitive cycling, Thompson does 40 to 50 races a year. Sunday marked his first victory of the season.

He was sidelined for a month after breaking a thumb in a small crash during his second race of the campaign.

"This feels so good," Thompson said. "I had two screws put in that thumb. I wasn't allowed to go out on a bike for a month.

"When I saw this race was 80 miles and included a big hill, I had to come. A bunch of my teammates from Maryland came, too. You don't see many road races with hills like these.

"There was a lot of up and down riding. You couldn't let up. I knew it'd be a long day, a race of attrition with a lot of people dropping out," he added.

Thompson won with a time of three hours, 52 minutes. Renfrew's Turner Johnson — one of fewer than 10 Butler County riders among the 86 cyclists at the event overall — finished eighth.

Brown described the course as "safe and selective."

"Rolling up and down, so windy out there ... Only the strongest riders were going to finish," he said.

Joe Ruggery, Stephen Cummings and Eddie Grystar finished second through fourth. Grystar, 17, of Oakmont, will be competing in the Tour de L'Abitibi in Quebec, an international race July 20-26 featuring riders from 25 countries.

Grystar has family in the Butler area."I'd never raced 85 miles before," Grystar said. "My longest race had been 75 miles."Four other races rounded out the Renfrew Ras. Jason Zimmerman won the Masters 40-plus 42-mile race, Gray Patton the 33-mile Women's Open, Eric Milbrandt the 27-mile race and Kyle Kukieza the 8.5-mile event.Zimmerman, 40, of Latrobe, has been racing since 1993."We always try to support the local races," he said of his club."The traffic control out here was about the best I've seen and the course was challenging."We'll definitely be back."Patton, 23, of Pittsburgh may have had the most impressive performance. She won the Women's Open in an hour and 45 minutes after finishing fifth in a 33-mile bicycle race the day before in Columbiana, Ohio."I really haven't done this back-to-back stuff," Patton said. "My body hurts right now."Patton finished nearly five minutes in front of the second-place rider.Ed Johnson and Henry Dimmick were directors of the Renfrew Ras. Johnson said plans are to make it a multiple-day event next year, add more divisions and attract more riders."We're looking for 200 riders next year, double what we had today," Johnson said. "We want to get more riders from Philadelphia. The Allegheny Cycling Association in Pittsburgh has 300 members. The Philadelphia association probably has close to 3,000."Some of the bikes out here were probably pushing $10,000 in terms of cost. Some cycling associations provide bikes and travel costs to their elite riders, but none of these riders are paid money. There are no pros here."Riders participated from Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C.<B>Renfrew Ras Results(top 3 finishers)Elite Non-Professional (85 miles) — </B>Nathaniel Thompson 3:52, Joe Ruggery, Stephen Cummings<B>Masters 40-plus (42 miles) — </B>Jason Zimmerman 1:53.58, Gerry Pflug, Brian Wieczorek<B>Women's Open (33 miles) — </B>Gray Patton 1:45.31, Patricia George, Nina Wilczek<B>CAT 4/5 (25 miles) — </B>Eric Milbrandt 1:04.50, John Cotter, Chris Reynolds<B>Citizens (8.5 miles) — </B>Kyle Kukieza 23:50, Cameron Stauffer, Patrik Pellegrino

Brian Wieczorek (left) leads the 42-mile Master's 40-over race with Gerry Pflug close behind him and Jason Zimmerman to his right. Zimmerman wound up winning the race, one of five comprising the Renfrew Ras bicycle races Sunday in Penn Township.