Sunday, May 12, 2002 -- Canaan Valley Resort State Park - Canaan Valley, WV
24 Miles of Canaan - WVMBA Pts. #4 (iPO Event Id#: 4787)
Story and photos by Don Parks

[Details] [Coverage]
[Overall Results]
Pictures: [Set 1] [Set 2] [Set 3] [Set 4] [Set 5]
[Set 6] [Set 7] [Set 8] [Set 9] [Set 10] [Set 11] [Set 12]
[Additional photos from Lyndon Saylor]
[1998 Coverage] [1999 Coverage] [2000 Coverage] [2001 Coverage]

At least the rain held off until after the start

The weather in Canaan is always a little unpredictable, and on race day at the 2002 24 Mile of Canaan it was true to form. But after an ugly crash in the start of the expert field, the rest of the day's racing was rather predictable.

With the rain holding off before the start, the expert field sprinted off the line down the short road start. Before the pack had a chance to thin out, Scott Root took a nasty endo that taco-ed his front wheel, sent him slamming to the pavement, and launched his bike into the air. His rear tire hit Dave Flemming in the face as brakes squealed to avoid a pile-up. Luckily, everyone continued racing except for Root whose body and bike took a nasty beating. Some serious roadrash on his face and shoulder will heal quickly, but a badly broken hand will probably keep him out of the races for a while.

Racing in the Canaan Valley State Park

Once everyone was out on the course, it was back to business as usual. In the women's expert field it was the same results as Valley Falls (WVMBA #3). Missy Showman (2:29:50) cruised to a first place finish followed by Sarah Crandall-Fletcher (2:40:39) and Mandi Riddle (2:47:34), respectively.

In the men's expert field, Benji Klimas wasn't getting a chance to show his skills on the technical trails that make up Canaan's Revenge of the Rattlesnake course. This much more tame course did suit Daniel Clay Evans (2:02:13) just fine. He took the lead early and was never threatened as he went on to record is second 2002 WVMBA Series win.

Missy rolls to another win

T.J. Platt (2:05:39) got off to a slow start after losing his tools early in the race. But Platt passed Klimas on the second of three laps and went on to take second place and maintain his hold on first in the points standings. Klimas (2:09:27) rolled across the line to take third overall.

Now the series takes a break for the rest of May and returns with Bikestock on June 2nd. Maybe it'll even be a race without any rain!