A small but hardy squad ventured out into the frost on Saturday to contest the 7th race of the ECCC cyclocross series. MIT entered the day in second place, one point behind an opportunistic Drexel team. With Drexel absent, however, the focus shifted towards defeating arch-rival and D1-leader Rutgers.
Paul Nerenberg and Nick Loomis got things off to a good start, placing 3rd and 4th in the collegiate C race. Two fields of USCF Masters then softened the course up, leaving a thin layer of mud atop still-frozen soil for the Women’s B race at 11:30. Undeterred, Sonya Cates and Rachel Bainbridge raced their way to 5th and 6th place. Bill Palm and Cim Wortham capped off Tech’s day with a win and 3rd place in the collegiate B’s, giving MIT 169 points to Rutgers’ 112. Unfortunately, Rutgers had an Ace left to play, winning the Men’s A race to add 80 points to their total and win the day overall.
Nonetheless, a great day for MIT Cyclocross. Congrats to Nick and Sonya for racing well in their first races of the season, to Rachel for bouncing back strong after a tough crash a few weeks back at Plymouth, to Cim for making a strong transition to the B field, and to Paul and Bill for posting their best results of the season.
Next up: two races in Warwick RI this coming weekend. Let’s bring out a big squad and show Rutgers who the best cyclocross team in the ECCC is!
Bill