2010 Hillsboro-Roubaix

The 9th Annual Hillsboro-Roubaix is in the books with a huge turnout of over 600 riders under a cloudless, sunny sky and temperatures reaching 75F degrees.
I now know why this race is such a huge success,  this is Spring Break ... Illinois Style! Today there were 50 riders in the Women's Cat. 4, 100 Cat. 3 Men, 110 Cat. 4 Men, and 125 Pro. 1/2 Men today competing on the 29 mile circuit between Litchfield and Hillsboro.  The exact blow by blow of each race will have to be revealed in the blogs of riders in the days to come. There were reports of several crashes and a few broken collar bones some where out in the farmland, so that should be interesting reading. Some results are available but we'll consider them 'un-official' until they are posted on the web. 

In the Master's 50+ it was Mark Gowler taking the win, David Stone the Masters 40-49, and Stacy Applewick the Women's Category. 4. The Men's Cat 5 was taken by Brett Boharan, Chris Monroe was second, and Jamie Sanchez third. (the rider's teams were not listed on the posted results). Men's Category 3 was won by Dan Damotte, Karl Schult was second, and Bryan Rheude third. (my copy of the Cat. 4 is blurry, which is too bad since he had the post-up of the day and would love to share it!).

Rita Klofta took the Women's 1/2/3 race in a sprint over Briana Kovac, and Rachael Roessingh. 

Just to keep things interesting, so we don't get bored, as the Elite Women's field was finishing, the Pro 1/2 field came around the last corner and beared down on them at full speed making for a very chaotic scene!  Christopher Uberti took the sprint over John Grant, Noah Singer, Ryan Knapp, Todd Hancock, Mike Sherer, and Chad Hartley. He did give a post - up as he crossed the line, but at the same time he was also swerving to miss the women who were finishing their race, as well as spectators jamming the road trying to get a good view of the action!

While it's great having a road race with such great popularity that hundreds of riders drive many miles to attend, the crowd control at the start / finish line could really be improved. Throughout the day, there was a steady stream of riders finishing their race, often many minutes behind the main field of their category, sometimes sprinting full out - as other riders who had already finished, crossed the road to pick up wheels, or were simply hanging in the road sharing race stories. This really came to a head when the Pro 1/2 Men almost caught the Elite Women right on the line for their sprint! What chaos!

All in all, though, it was a great day for racing and the organizers did a wonderful job of putting on a super event. No doubt the 10th annual Hillsboro - Roubaix will be even better.

BREAKING NEWS:  Official results are posted!