With finishing times only one second apart, Andover Girls A clinched 1st and 2nd at the team time trial in Loudon, N.H. This was Andover cycling’s first race this spring, showing the team’s promise for a successful season. Andover Boys A placed sixth and ninth, respectively.
The race course was a wide, open circuit, of which the cyclists completed four to six laps depending on their respective division. Riding conditions were difficult– cold, windy, with on-and-off rain showers. Nonetheless, the girls overcame the challenges to ride to success.
Jessica Wang ’18 wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “The course was so windy, at some points I felt like even though I was expending a ton of energy, the wind was blowing it all away.”
“Because of the open layout of the course, it was extremely windy for everyone. That was a big challenge to overcome, but I think we did a fantastic job switching off to be as efficient as possible and work together the entire time,” wrote Elizabeth Holubiak ’18 in an email to The Phillipian.
In a team time trial cycling race, competitors ride in pairs, trios, or groups of four. The time for each team is denoted by the second racer’s finishing time. Holubiak, Co-Captain Leah Adelman ’17, and Meg Davis ’17 won first place in Girls A, finishing the nine mile race with a time of 27:17 minutes. Anneke Sherry ’17 and Wang trailed closely behind, finishing only one second later with a time of 27:18 minutes.
Adelman wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “I’m so proud of the way Elizabeth and I performed. Our transitions between who was pulling were seamless. We communicated really well both verbally and with our hand signals.”
In the Andover Boys A race, Co-Captain David Shamritsky ’17 and Isaac Newell ’18 placed sixth with a time of 24:36 minutes, and Anthony Minickiello ’20 and John Rauen ’17 placed ninth with a time of 25:58 minutes in their first race as cyclists for Andover.
“This race is a great first race of the season because it stresses how important teamwork and collaboration is in cycling, in a much more obvious way than is evident just from a road race. If you are having a great day, but your partner is having trouble, you still have to get to the line together, since the clock stops after the 2nd rider crosses,” Shamritsky wrote in an email to The Phillipian.
According to Newell, Shamritsky raced particularly well and helped his teammate with the pace he set.
Newell wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “David is stronger than me so I rode his draft for most of the race, just struggling to stay on his wheel. He was really attuned to how I was doing the whole time, pushing me to my limit but not too far over it so he didn’t drop me.”
Head Coach Thayer Zaeder ’83 also believes the team’s first race to be successful and promising for the rest of the season.
“I thought all of our pairs raced well and had good form and took advantage of the draft of their fellow rider,” he wrote in an email to The Phillipian.
Andover hopes to continue its upward momentum and accelerate next Wednesday against Holderness.
