Passing the other racers at blazing speeds, Alex Morrow ’12 and Matt Lloyd-Thomas ’12 sprinted to the finish line to capture first place at the Exeter time trial this past Saturday, the final race of a successful season. Set on a 9.5 mile dead flat course following the shoreline, the cycling team performed the best of the season at Exeter. The team defeated Exeter as a whole in both the boys and girls categories. “The course was nice and flat along the coast of New Hampshire. I bike that route all summer, so it was nice for me to be in familiar territory. Everyone raced extremely well and we beat Exeter, which was really nice. Matt and I placed first for the men and the women, respectively. So that was a great way to end the season,” said Morrow. Lloyd-Thomas had a particularly impressive performance and set the course record at 22:15 with an average pace of 26 MPH. “I caught four people. One started six minutes ahead of me,” said Lloyd-Thomas. Raphael Grandeau ’11, a newcomer to the team this year, had one of his best races at Exeter as well. He said, “The pattern of the course was quite motivating: each Andover rider was supposed to chase an Exeter student and be chased by another Exeter biker at the same time.” Rachel Wittenberg ’13, another newcomer to the team, demonstrated her progress at the race. She said, “Time trials are really hard because you are out there by yourself, so it can be hard to gauge how you’re doing and difficult to push yourself when there’s nobody around you. On Saturday, we were spaced 30 seconds apart and I remember seeing the girl in front of me and just deciding to go for it and try to catch her. I think my race would’ve gone really differently if I hadn’t seen her and had that visual reminder of the competition.” Both the boys and girls cycling teams captured first in the New England lead, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since before Coach Zaeder began coaching the team. This season will surely be difficult to top but the team looks forward to building upon the success of this year to dominate even more thoroughly next season.
