U25s Racing Nationals This Week!

This week our U25s are competing at The USA Cycling Junior, U23, Elite and Paralympic Road National Championships in Bend, Oregon. And NOW-MS Society is off to a great start with Will Chesebro's 2nd place yesterday in the C1-C3 Men's Road Race.

Representing NOW-MS Society at Nationals are Jenna Kowalski, Julia Lafranchise, Lauren Liscinski, Kendall Ryan, Ivie Crawford and for the men: Corey Farrell, Cory Greenberg, Danny Heeley, Sergio Hernandez, Danny Katz, Stephen Leece and Will Chesebro.

Our women and men will compete against some of the best young riders in the sport of cycling. Over 750 racers will attend this year's Nationals. Twenty-four national titles and seven spots on USA Cycling's 2010 UCI Road Cycling World Championships squad will be on the line as participants compete for Stars-and-Stripes jerseys in criterium, time trial and road race events.

Wednesday, June 23
3:30pm Criterium - Will

Thursday, June 24 - Time Trial
Junior Women (24K) - Kendall
Elite Men (35K) - Sergio
U23 Men (35K) - Corey F, Cory G, Danny Heeley, Stephen

Friday, June 25 - Criterium
2:00pm Junior Women Crit – Kendall, Ivie
4:30pm U23 Men Crit - Cory G, Corey F, Danny Heeley, Danny Katz, Stephen
6:00pm Elite Women Crit - Jenna, Julia and Lauren
7:30pm Elite Men - Sergio

Saturday, June 26 - Road Race
8:30am Junior Women RR - Kendall, Ivie
12:00pm U23 Men RR - Cory, Corey, Danny Heeley, Danny Katz, Stephen

Sunday, June 27 - Road Race
8:15am Elite Women RR - Lauren, Jenna, Julia
12:00pm Elite Men RR - Sergio

For more info about Nationals: http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=5038
Attached is the Official Guide (with course maps).

Follow the Action:
Team Director Kurt Stockton http://twitter. com/KSMCycling
Elite Women's Team Captain Lauren Liscinski http://twitter.com/lliscinski
Julia Lafranchise http://twitter. com/JLAFRANCHISE
Cory Greenberg twitter http://twitter. com/corygreenber g
Cory Greenberg http://www.corygree nberg.blogspot. com
Will Chesebro http://twitter.com/willchesebro

Below are some of the big names who will be racing this week (from the USA Cycling link above):

Coming off a third-place overall finish at the recent Canadian Nations Cup Ben King (North Garden, Va./Trek-Livestrong) is sure to be a favorite, along with recent Volta Tarragona runner-up Andrew Talansky (Napa, Calif./Cal Giant Berry Farms-Specialized) and 2009 criterium champion Alex Howes (Boulder, Colo./Clif Bar). Recent Pan American track medalist Cody O’Reilly (Santa Barbara, Calif./Bissell), Jacob Rathe (Portland, Ore./Jelly Belly) and local favorite Ian Boswell (Bend, Ore./Bissell) also look to be amongst a slew of talented cyclists who will contend for the Stars-and-Stripes.

Among this year’s favorites are 2008 Olympian and former time trial world champion Amber Neben (Irvine, Calif./Veloce-Webcor), second-place overall finisher in the 2009 Women’s Giro, Mara Abbott, (Boulder, Colo./Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12), current USA Cycling National Racing Calendar leader Alison Powers (Boulder, Colo./Vera Bradley Foundation),defending national road race champ Meredith Miller (Fort Collins, Colo./TIBCO), Brooke Miller (Santa Cruz, Calif./TIBCO) the 2008 road race champ and Shelley Evans (Scotts Valley, Pa./Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12) winner of this season’s Tour of New Zealand. Also expected to be major factors are former Wall Street investment banker turned champion cyclist Evelyn Stevens (New York, N.Y./HTC-Columbia), last year’s time trial winner Jessica Phillips (Aspen, Colo./Colavita-Baci-Cooking Light) and Amber Rais (Reno, Nevada/TIBCO).

Not to be overlooked, the junior 17-18 competition will feature some of the top talent seen in the U.S. in years as the most decorated junior cyclist in history, Coryn Rivera (Tustin, Calf./Peanut Butter & CO TWENTY 12), will look to pad her closet with her 26th Stars-and-Stripes jersey. Last year’s UCI Junior World Championship Time Trial silver-medalist Lawson Craddock (Houston, Texas/Hot Tubes) will also be on hand to prepare for another run at the prestigious world championship rainbow jersey. Reigning elite men’s road race champion Michael Olheiser (Huntsville, Ala./Tri Star Cycling) will also lead the field of the country’s top amateur men.