October 19, 2004, New York, NY–Fall usually means the end of the cycling season, but for those who brave the sport of

cyclocross—aka blood, sweat and gears—it’s when the fun racing begins. With athletes competing in the UCI and national cyclocross calendars, Team Aquafina athletes are racing year-round.

Team Aquafina’s Sinead Fitzgibbon grabbed a third place finish and earned 12 valuable UCI points in the competitive Downeast Cyclocross Race in New Gloucester, Maine. The event is one of the key events on the UCI race calendar, which awards points toward the World Cyclocross Championships in St. Wendel, Germany at the end of January.

Fitzgibbon showed great form finishing just a few minutes behind the winner Mary McConneloug (Seven Cycles), who competed for the U.S. at the Summer Games. Mo Bruno (cyclocrossworld.com) took second place. Fitzgibbon bested Anna Milkowski (Rona) and Marianne Stover (Independent Fabrications), along with many other exceptional ‘cross racers.

Riding for the better part of the race securely in fourth or fifth place, in the last lap, Stover made a technical error and dropped her chain. Fitzgibbon attacked and gapped her and another rider to gain third place. “I just knew that if I went as hard as I could, I might be able to get to the finish in third,” FitzGibbon said. “It was a very technical race, no spots for recovery, lots of muddy downhill and an uphill sections, with a 50 meter gnarly run-up, head-wind on the flat spots, and no room for mistakes,” she added. FitzGibbon will be competing in a full UCI calendar of cyclocross events in the US and is poised to make the World Cyclocross team for either the United States or Ireland.

The next day, Aquafina’s Tara Parsons joined FitzGibbon in Hartford, CT where the duo demolished the field, with FitzGibbon taking first and Parsons securing second. “It was a great day for Team Aquafina,”said Parsons. “We knew we could do well, but didn’t expect to go 1-2.” Parsons credits her second place to her new, once-shiny, once-clean Giant ‘cross bike in a beautiful once-blue bike.

Upcoming ‘Cross Races for Team Aquafina:

October 24 : Wissahickon Cross– Philadelphia, PA

October 30,31: Michelob Ultra Gran Prix of Gloucester — Gloucester, MA

November 4: ChainBiter—Farmington, CT

November 6: Westra/Lower Allen—Camp Hill, PA

Fitzgibbon clears a barrier at Gloucester, Maine

For more photos, log onto http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2004/oct04/downeast04.

‘Cross 101

Long Before Mountain Biking, There Was Cyclocross

Cyclocross started in the 1940s as a way for professional road cyclists in Europe to stay in shape in the off-season. Since then, the sport has become more popular in the United States and Europe to the point that there is a Cyclocross World Championship held in January.

The race course is usually a mix of grass, dirt, sections of asphalt, sand, mud and more mud. There are several sections that require dismounts and running (with bike on shoulder).

Cross racers require the fitness of road racing combined with the technical expertise of mountain biking. Due to the timing of the season, ‘cross races are often held in cold, rainy or snowy weather, making the race courses beyond challenging.

The ‘cross racers ride bikes that combine aspects of mountain and road bikes into one. The bikes have more clearance and allow for wide, knobby tires like mountain bikes, but are light, lack suspension and are more nimble and travel at higher speeds than mountain bikes.