St Charles, MO– For St. Patrick\u2019s Day weekend the Notre Dame Cycling Team traveled to the emerald\u00a0pastures of St. Charles, Missouri for their second race weekend of the 2012 Road\u00a0Racing Season. Lindenwood University hosted the inaugural MWCCC\/NCCCC\u00a0Challenge where riders from both the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference\u00a0and the North Central Collegiate Cycling Conference competed head-to-head to\u00a0determine not only who were the best riders in each of the respective conferences\u00a0but also which conference packed the most power overall.<\/p>\n
Saturday started early with the Men\u2019s Category B Team Time Trial. The Notre Dame team consisted of Joshua Corcoran, David Pratt, his brother John Pratt, and Andrew O\u2019Donnell. The 13-mile \u201clollipop\u201d course started out flat and fast but soon unveiled its bitter side as the riders were faced with a twisty Category 5 climb. The climb proved challenging but the team was able to successfully navigate the course to a victory with a time of 30:29 besting the next best team by 0:45.<\/p>\n
The road race started later that morning and as the day wore on the temperature\u00a0rose and the air got heavy. The course followed a 20 mile loop which consisted of\u00a0two major climbs that were sure to shatter the fields and leave the sprinters begging\u00a0for mercy. Despite the grueling course and large field of MWCCC and NCCCC riders,\u00a0Carolyn McCann bested the hills and rolled to a very commendable 17th place in the\u00a0Women\u2019s C field. Corcoran joined David Pratt in the Men\u2019s C race. The field of 50+\u00a0men tackled 2 laps of the course, which saw a finishing group of 7 riders break away\u00a0from the rest of the field. In his first race of the season Corcoran finished 18th with
\nteammate Pratt following a close 24th. With dark ominous clouds rolling into the\u00a0area the Men\u2019s A and B races started. Less than 2 miles into the race lightning began\u00a0to strike and the thunder roared. The officials promptly neutralized both fields and\u00a0ended the race as torrential rain and hail began to pelt the riders.<\/p>\n
Sunday started with the Men\u2019s C criterium in historic downtown St. Charles. Again\u00a0Joshua Corcoran and David Pratt contested with a large field of 46 riders. Within\u00a0a few laps of the brick curse the field quickly dwindled to less than 30. Pratt and\u00a0Corcoran were comfortably in the lead group and maintained perfect positioning\u00a0throughout the 40-minute race. Pratt finished a career best 11th with Corcoran on\u00a0his tail at 13th. McCann again took it to the women\u2019s field. The pack splintered with\u00a0McCann in the trailing group. However in just a few laps McCann was able to put in\u00a0a tremendous effort to claw back into the lead group and hold on for 17th. With \u00a0fresh\u00a0legs from an abridged road race John Pratt and Andrew O\u2019Donnell were poised to\u00a0put a good effort in the Men\u2019s B criterium. The race started brisk with many riders\u00a0launching attacks in the first 20 minutes of the 45-minute race. With 22 minutes\u00a0to go O\u2019Donnell launched from the pack and started his solo attack. Pratt executed<\/p>\n
perfect team tactics as he allowed only a small chase group of 4 riders off the front\u00a0in pursuit of O\u2019Donnell. The pursuit proved fruitless as O\u2019Donnell finished solo off\u00a0the front for the first mass-start win of his career. With his teammate up the road\u00a0Pratt was able to hang in the front of the main pack and even launched his own\u00a0attack with less than 2 km to go. The field was unresponsive as he cruised to a solo\u00a02nd place. Douglas Ansel represented Notre Dame in the Men\u2019s A criterium which\u00a0started fast and only got faster. Ansel made it into a lead group of 10 riders that\u00a0formed with 20 minutes to go in the 60-minute race. Realizing that the break would\u00a0not stay away Ansel wisely returned to the field to conserve his energy, which he\u00a0used to finish a very commendable 18th in a field loaded with firepower.<\/p>\n
As the team loaded their vehicles for the long drive back to South Bend they were\u00a0summoned to the officiating tent There they were \u00a0promptly informed that small\u00a0team of only 6 riders scored more points than any other Division II team that\u00a0weekend and were presented with the first ever MWCCC\/NCCCC Challenge Division\u00a0II Trophy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
St Charles, MO– For St. Patrick\u2019s Day weekend the Notre Dame Cycling Team traveled to the emerald\u00a0pastures of St. Charles, Missouri for their second race weekend of the 2012 Road\u00a0Racing Season. Lindenwood University hosted the inaugural MWCCC\/NCCCC\u00a0Challenge where riders from both the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference\u00a0and the North Central Collegiate Cycling Conference competed head-to-head to\u00a0determine … <\/p>\n