San Rafael Twilight Criterium a big hit with cyclists and spectators
The San Rafael Twilight Criterium celebrated its fifteenth year by thrilling crowds downtown Saturday night.
Over six races 15,000 cow bell ringing spectators cheered the near 600 bicyclists on. Criteriums are the most common type of bicycle race in the United States. These races are held on a closed course and see the bicyclist achieve faster speeds than on a road course.
The first race was the Elite 4 category which saw Chris Esparza of San Francisco win with Gavin Murray of Sebastopol come second and Mike Jarvis of Santa Clara come in third. "This little uphill (climbing up Fourth Street to D Street) really gets you hurting. The hardest part (of the course) was right after turn two, turning into the downhill (D Street onto Fifth Street)" said Jarvis.
In the Masters 35 plus 3-4 category Sean Brandt of Alameda won followed closely under a tenth of a second by Aaron Schmitz and Todd Crisafulli of San Rafael.
In the Masters 45 plus 3-4 category Karl Wurzbach, Michael Boehme and Rick Lawton finished one, two, three.
Elite Category 3 Men category Ryan Wei, Kelsey Judd and Stephen Jayanathan of Oakland finished first through third.
The Masters 35 plus 1-2-3 category saw Michael Sayers of Sacramento win with Judd Van Sickle and Chris Baker take second and third.
In the Masters 45 plus 1-2-3 Men category Patrick Briggs took the prize followed by Chris Wire and Michael O'Rourke. It was a challenging course for O'Rourke. "It's challenging from the start. It's just really hard, it's really fast, it doesn't really let up," O'Rourke said.
By the last two races each over an hour in length, the floodlights came on illuminating the course. In the Professional Men 1-2 category Eamon Lucas of Pacific Grove took first followed by Justin Williams of Los Angeles and Dana Williams of Mill Valley.
In the Professional Women 1-2-3 category it was won by Australian Kimberly Wells. Taking second and third places were Ruth Winder and Olivia Dillon of Fairfax. "It's a great course, I love this race," said Dillon.
While last year was good, Ryan Chamberlain, VP of event management for ProjectSport who puts on the event was happy with this event. "Things were considerably better (this year). I think predominantly it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. The masses are learning what to expect of this event and become energized around what we're going to produce, yet the masses are what makes it happen," said Chamberlain.
Look for the San Rafael Twilight Criterium again next year with as much action and excitement as this year.
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