Western’s Mountain Sports Program hosted the 3rd Annual Pagan Pedal Mountain Bike Race at Crested Butte Mountain Resort last weekend with excellent results.  Over 200 Division I and II athletes from the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference (RMCCC) traveled to the Gunnison Valley to compete in four different events: Dual Slalom, Downhill, Cross Country and Short Track Cross Country.

CB DH Preston Hoffman

Sierra Halverson makes her way down the rock garden during the DH competition

Western’s Mountain Sports athletes had a great showing with outstanding performances from Graham Ruhmann, Sierra Halverson, Daniel Frentzel and Jimi Averill.  Ruhmann took second place in the Men’s A Short Track and fifth in Men’s A Cross Country.  Sierra Halverson was top five in Women’s B Downhill, Dual Slalom and Cross Country.  Freshman Daniel Frentzel made statement by taking a close second in the Men’s B Dual Slalom and annihilating the field in Men’s B Downhill with a more than 3 second victory.   Senior Jimi Averill took 6th place in an incredibly talented field of Men’s A Downhill riders.

CB LT Preston Hoffman

Cameron Smith in the Short track race

The Pagan Pedal has set itself apart as one of the top-tier Collegiate Mountain Bike Events in the RMCCC, riders from every school present had  nothing but praise for the courses and all of the wonderful volunteers, staff and community members that made the event possible.  Western’s Mountain Sports Program would like to send a huge thank you to the excellent people at Crested Butte Mountain Resort for their hard work and dedication throughout the weekend.

Results can be found at the USAC website

CB Short Track

Banks Kriz races to the finish in the dual slalom

Written by Jason Holton. Photos by David Dieckhaus, Preston Hoffman, and Mason Strehl. More photos from the event may be found on our Flickr page.