Late burst gets it done
PENN TWP — How ironic that an 85-mile cycling race can come down to a matter of a few feet.
That's the world riders like Max Korus and Bob Stumpf live in during the summer.
The pair were among the competitors in the second day of the Butler County Stage Race Sunday, which entailed a race on an 8Z\x-mile loop on Three Degree, Brownsdale, Renfrew, Meridian and West Airport roads.
Korus, who had the top overall time entering the road race portion, pulled from behind Stumpf and slipped past him to finish the race in 3 hours, 59 minutes, 1 second, four seconds ahead of Stumpf.
Korus of Elkinsburg, near Philadelphia, had won the time trial in 14 minutes, 35 seconds and the criterium in 1:26.01 in downtown Butler Saturday.
Sunday, however, proved to be the daunting challenge as Korus and Stumpf broke from the pack approaching the finish line.
"Once we established the one group, we worked pretty well together," said Korus, 22. "In the field, everyone knows about the King of the Mountain (the rider who consistently placed highest at the top of Meridian's hill during the loops).
"That takes it out of you so you limit your effort there. ... There's a lot of communication out there," he added.
While winning the 85-mile test is big, winning the whole stage race is better.
"Winning the stage is really exciting," said Korus, who attends the University of Pennsylvania. "Every race is its own race. With stage races, people come in overall. There's a top three, a top five in the road race. You work with it and set yourself up."
Stumpf, 21, of Beaver had seen the course last year by taking part in the Renfrew Ras, the former name of the road race.
His teammate placed third and knew it was a grueling course.
"I tried to mark the leaders," said Stumpf, who attends the University of Pittsburgh. "That was the key to my success today.
"I had a rough day Saturday (Stumpf's overall time placed him sixth), but, today, the hill fits more of my strengths than a 180-degree hairpin turn," he added.
Race organizer Ed Johnson said heat was definitely was a factor in the event."In that 85-mile race, the last race of the day, the only thing these guys have to sustain them is what they have in their pockets."The men's 3 division, a six-loop race (51 miles), came down to William Morris and Patrick Kineston.Morris won the battle, but Kineston won the war.Morris edged Kineston at the finish, crossing the line at 2:20.46 to Kineston's 2:20.50, but Kineston walked away with the overall title with a combined time of 3:25.21 (plus a 15:51 in the time trial and 48:40 in criterion race)."You have all three to get, but you want to get the win for the whole event," said Kineston, 26, of Ithica, N.Y. "The road race is the premier event. It's technical. It's who runs the smartest race, who's stronger."The two decided to work together to keep the rest of the pack at bay, but it was Morris who pulled away at the end to finish fourth overall in the event.Kineston would contend Morris didn't maintain his line at the end of the race, but he was fine with the end result."(Morris) didn't have as much willpower at the end," said Kineston. "I did two-thirds of the work and I got in front. He attacked and got by at the end.""My teammate, Ben Reynolds, was off the front for a couple of laps. I got to sit back and let people chase him. When the group started chasing him, I was a little fresher," said Morris, 28, of Alexandria, Va."Everyone knew the big thing would be the climb," said Morris, who attends law school at Howard University. "I didn't put in an attack, but a did put in a hard effort. It ended up with me in front."Alaina Gurski, 40, captured the open women's division with a combined time of 2:44.35, 1:16 ahead of Emily Mackay (2:45.51).Other winners included Joseph Lydic, 31, in the Men's 4/5 division and Craig Cozza, 46, the Men's 40-and-over division.Their also was a unicycle division in which nine riders took part, including some from Canada, Rhode Island, New York and Philadelphia.Riders made either two or three loops on the course. In all, five of the riders were from the Butler County area, including Dan Krack."Ed was very gracious to invite us to join. We want to show unicycles can be professional."The local unicyclists have a club, the Butler Wobble, and Krack hopes to continue seeing the club, as well as the sport of unicycling, grow."We really want to make it a community event," said Krack about the downtown trials and criterium. "The whole goal is to make it a community festival with spectators and merchants involved."
