The cross-country event at round three of the NORBA National Championship Mountain Bike Series in Mount Snow, Vermont featured already established superstars, and those in the making. Mary McConneloug (Fairfax, CA; Seven Cycles) put her stamp on the mountain bike scene, besting top competition while World Champion Roland Green held off rising stars for a hard fought win.

One of the mainstays on the NORBA NCS circuit, Mt. Snow never fails to attract a quality field, and this year was no different. Green (CAN; Trek-Volkswagen), World Cup Champion, Filip Meirhaeghe (BEL; Specialized), U.S. Champion, Jeremy Horgan Kobelski (Boulder, CO; RLX-Ralph Lauren), and current NORBA points leader, Ryder Hesjedal (CAN; Subaru-Gary Fisher) highlighted the field, their presence alone guaranteeing a fierce battle.

The men's race started off as fast as the quality of the field suggested it would. After the first lap of the 5.5 mile circuit throughout Mt. Snow resort, it was Seamus McGrath (CAN; Haro-Lee Dungarees) who led the charge, instigating a break of three riders which also included Green and Hesjedal. A chasing Jeremiah Bishop (Harrisonburg, VA; Trek-Volkswagen) put the pressure on the leaders from behind attempting to bridge the gap.

By the end of lap two, Hesjedal had fallen off the pace as Green and McGrath continued to motor up front. Bishop, continued his breakthrough ride, overtaking Hesjedal and sliding into the third position.

Shortly after the riders began the bell lap, Green opened up a slight gap on McGrath with Bishop and Hesjedal working to close the gap to the leaders. That slight gap was all that Green needed. Maintaining the slightest of margins throughout the last lap, Green held on for the victory a mere eight seconds ahead of McGrath, with Bishop staying away from Hesjedal for third place.

Explaining his ability to maintain his gap over McGrath in the last lap, Green said, "There were lots of roots today, I had good tires and low pressure. "No matter what, when it rains here, there's no course harder. It's treacherous when it's wet. Like last year, on the last lap, the gaps grew."

Many wondered what happened to Hesjedal, who was not in his usual top spot on the podium. "You can't be super everyday", he said. "I'm happy with fourth, obviously I'm riding with the overall series as the main agenda. When you lead races from start to finish, it takes a lot out of you. You can't expect to always be in front with a fresh Roland and Seamus is always hungry."

In the women's event, McConneloug spent the first lap of the race making up ground lost to the three early leaders, Jimena Florit (ARG; RLX Ralph Lauren), Willow Koerber (Ashville, NC; RLX Ralph Lauren) and Alison Sydor (CAN; Trek Volkswagen), who quickly opened up a gap early in the race. After making contact with the leaders, McConneloug seized the opportunity and rolled the dice in an effort to then distance herself from the trio, using the climbs to her advantage.

News quickly came from the announcers that McConneloug maintained a solo lead on the back side of the course, but as the women made their way through the start/finish for the third and final lap, it was Sydor who had reclaimed the lead with McConneloug just 10 seconds back followed by Florit and Koerber.

With the crowd seemingly willing McConneloug to make her breakthrough, she didn't disappoint. After Sydor used the descents to put some time into McConneloug, it was the latter who used the ascents late in the course to retake the lead for good, holding on all the way to the finish for her first NORBA NCS victory.

"I felt awesome", McConneloug said during the post-race interview. "That was incredible. I knew the course and the climbing really well, I felt great today, and this morning I thought to myself 'I'm not going to be nervous, I'm really going to relish this experience and enjoy it as it is and stay calm."

Alison Dunlap (Colorado Springs, CO; Luna Chix) unfortunately did not compete today after undergoing surgery on Thursday for a fourth degree separation of her shoulder suffered in last weekend's NORBA NCS race in Snowshoe, WV. Word from the Luna Chix team camp is that Dunlap's season is likely over while she recovers and looks ahead to 2004.

In the mountain cross event, Eric Carter (Temecula, CA; Mongoose-Hyundai) and Sabrina Jonnier (FRA; Intense) showed why they claimed the number one seeds for the finals.

The women's event was without Tara Llanes (Corona, CA; Giant-Pearl Izumi), currently second in the NCS points standings, who suffered a broken foot in an automobile accident earlier in the week, but the depth of the women's field ensured a competitive race.

The 16-woman field was narrowed down to the final four after a few heats and featured Jonnier, Marla Streb (Los Osos, CA; Luna Chix), Katrina Miller (AUS; Jamis) and current points leader, Jill Kintner (San Jose, CA; Staats).

In what looked to be a competitive final round, the race was essentially over the second it began as some contact amongst the women caused Kinter, Streb, and Miller to go down right out of the gate. Jonnier escaped the carnage and had an immediate gap that she maintained through the finish. The race at this point was for second place, which was taken by Streb ahead of Miller after a second crash by Kintner in the middle of the course took her out of contention.

Asked about the early crash, Jonnier responded, "I had a good gate last week, but everybody pushed me so this week I pushed everybody on the outside. Katrina tried to come inside, and I pushed back."

The last four men standing after the elimination of 60 throughout the evening were top seed Carter, NORBA NCS points leader, Mike King (San Diego, CA; Haro-Lee Dungarees), Chris Kovarik (AUS; Intense-Fox) and Frenchman, Fabien Barel (Kona Clarks). Out of the gate, it was Carter, who despite racing on a broken hand, took advantage of his inside lane assignment, leading after the first corner and never looking back. Without many opportunities to make up lost ground on this particular course, the riders maintained their positions they had out of the gate all the way to the finish 30 seconds later. Carter took the victory from Kovarik as King and Barel took home third and fourth respectively.

"The first straightaway was like thoroughbred racing", Carter noted, "It was flat and tons of horsepower was being laid down." I focused on having clean shifts and getting my second, third and fourth pedals going so I could get my bars up front, take my line and make everybody back off."

The downhill event saved the drama for the very end as the last riders down the mountain, Marla Streb (Los Osos, CA; Luna Chix) and Cedric Gracia (FRA; Siemens-Cannondale) erased the previous marks set by their competitiors to win their respective downhill events.

Gracia, who lost his saddle with a quarter of the course remaining, still managed to post a time of 4 minutes 21 seconds, just.3 second ahead of second place rider, Nathan Rennie (AUS; Iron Horse). Greg Minnar (RSA; Haro-Lee Dungarees) snatched the third spot, just.2 second behind Rennie.

Due to inclement weather conditions, the popular 'Yard Sale' section of the course was eliminated because of safety concerns. A crowd favorite, the 'Yard Sale' was a technical section of large boulders that challenges riders to pick the right line, an added mental challenge. With overnight showers and looming rain throughout the day, it was deemed too slippery to include it in today's finals. The course still challenged the riders, who for the most part applauded the officials' decision to axe the 'Yard Sale.'

"I did really good on the rocks", Gracia noted, referring to his practice runs through the 'Yard Sale', "but I didn't want to crash today with a World Cup next weekend."

In the women's event, it was Streb, inspired by her teammate Katerina Hanusova's (CZE) victory in the short track event earlier in the day, who collected her second NORBA NCS downhill victory in as many weeks after taking the win at Snowshoe Mountain, WV. Streb notched a time of 5:16, just.5 second ahead of runner-up, Mio Suemasa (JPN; Trek-Volkswagen). Kathy Pruitt (Berkeley, CA) added to the day's success for the Luna-Chix team by taking home third place with a time of 5:26.

Streb, agreed with the decision to change the course, "70% of the people would have crashed", she claimed. "The course was still a little loose, at one point, my rear wheel was ahead of my front wheel, I was basically riding backwards," she said. "I had a couple of close calls, but ended up finding great success."

-- Courtesy of NORBA
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