The Great River Energy Bicycle Festival started with a bang at the inaugural MN Fixed Gear Classic held at the National Sports Center in Blaine, MN.  With the weather co-operating, a lively crowd of bike racing enthusiasts filled the bleachers and back stretch to watch world-class track racing. The first major event held at the NSC Velodrome since the 2001 USA National Championships were held here.  The crowd was not disappointed as an international field of 25 men and 16 women gave them plenty to cheer about.

The highlight of the first day of competition was a record setting performance by noted Italian sprinter Roberto Chiappa, holder of 41 Italian National Championships as well as being the World Junior Sprint Champion in 1991 and World Champion in 1993 at the Tandem Sprint. Chiappa set 2 new NSC Velodrome records.  He broke former US Olympic Gold Medalist Marty Nothstein’s 15 year old 200 meter sprint record of 10.6 seconds by clocking a 10.575. He also went on to set another track record by doing a flying 250 meter lap in 13.15 seconds.

Day 2 of The Great River Energy Bicycle Festival was characterized by some lucky dodging of the rain and some exciting racing.

The international race field again squared off in front of a large audience of local bicycle racing fans supplemented by arriving riders from the MS150 Bicycle Charity ride which finished their 2 day journey from Duluth at the NSC as well. The 2nd day of the omnium style racing treated the hardcore local racing fans to an afternoon of thrills and an occasional spill.

Heading into the day Trinidad-Tobago native Emile Abraham held a slight lead over sprinter Ben Barczewski of Allentown PA and World Champion Italian Sprinter Roberto Chiappa. 

The second day’s  races were more sprint focused and Emile, who is also a road racer for the Team Type 1 road race team had his work cut out for him to maintain his lead.

In the opening mile sprint, Barczewski took the win with Chiappa 2nd and Abraham 3rd, temporarily putting Barczewski in the omnium lead.  In the Keirin, an exciting race which is brought up to speed by pacing behind a motorcycle, Chiappa showed his World Champion speed by taking first, Barczewski followed in 2nd with Abraham third.

The stage was set for the final race of the men’s omnium, the miss-n-out.  Abraham needed the win to secure the omnium championship and the Trinidad-Tobago native came through with the victory to secure the 1st FGC Omnium title.

The women’s omnium was also closely fought between 17 year old Coleen Hayduke, America’s Dairyland racer Cari Higgins and Broadmark’s Jennifer Triplett. 

Coming into the day Higgins had a lead of 8 points over the precocious Hayduk.  In the first race of the day, the women’s handicap, Higgins teammate, Australian Claire Vohopoulous from took first with Hayduk bringing herself 5 points closer to Higgins by taking 2nd.  Local rider Melissa Dahlmann had a strong performance by taking 3rd.
In the women’s miss-n-out, Higgins suffered a mishap on the Afzelia wood surfaced track and went down hard, collecting a good helping of afzelia slivers along the way.  Hayduk capitalized by winning the race, leapfrogging over Higgins and giving herself a 4 point lead going into the next race, the chariot race.

The heavily bandaged Higgins showed grit by beating the 2nd place Hayduk and setting the stage for the final event of the afternoon, the women’s 12k scratch race. 

Only 2 points separated them and in a tough crowd pleasing match won by Broadmark Jennifer Triplett, Hayduk protected her lead by taking 2nd to Higgins 3rd. 

Thus the FGC omnium was in the books with Hayduk 1st, Higgins 2nd and Triplett 3rd.  In the award ceremony that followed the races, the omnium winners received “A Piece of the Track” trophies made up of the rare Afzelia surface wood strips.

The day’s festivities closed with an exciting 7 team Madison race which was won by Dan Harm and Adrian Hyvgeny of Broadmark Capital.  The other highlight of the day was the team sprint competition which was won by “Local Heroes”, Ted Schmid, Taylor Olson both from St. Cloud and James Tainter, Mpls who is also a reigning National Masters Champ in this discipline with a new track record, completing 750 meters in 49.774 seconds. 

Mens 200 Meter TT
1.  Roberto Chiappa, Italy, Gruppo Sportivo Forestale 10.575
2.  Ben Barczewski, Allentown, PA Alliance Environmental Systems 10.897
3.  Taylor Olson, St. Cloud MN SpeedFix Racing 11.203

Mens 50 Lap Points Race
1.  Andrew Armstrong, Plano, TX Matrix/RPM
2.  Dan Harm, Seattle WA, Broadmark Capital
3.  Emile Abraham, Atlanta GA, Trinidad/Tobago National Team / Team Type 1

Men’s Miss-n-Out
1.  Emile Abraham, Atlanta GA, Trinidad/Tobago National Team / Team Type 1
2.  Ben Barczewski, Allentown, PA Alliance Environmental Systems
3.  Daniele DeFranceschi, Windsor Ont/Canda, JetFuel Coffee

Men’s Chariot Race
1.  Roberto Chiappa, Italy, Gruppo Sportivo Forestale
2.  Ben Barczewski, Allentown, PA Alliance Environmental Systems
3.  Emile Abraham, Atlanta GA, Trinidad/Tobago National Team / Team Type 1

Men’s 12k Scratch Race
1.  Kenny Williams, Kenmore, WA, First Rate Mortgage
2.  Daniele DeFranceschi, Windsor Ont/Canda, JetFuel Coffee
3.  Emile Abraham, Atlanta GA, Trinidad/Tobago National Team / Team Type 1

Mens 1 Mile Sprint
1.  Ben Barczewski, Allentown, PA Alliance Environmental Systems
2.  Roberto Chiappa, Italy, Gruppo Sportivo Forestale
3.  Emile Abraham, Atlanta GA, Trinidad/Tobago National Team / Team Type 1

Mens Keirin
1.  Roberto Chiappa, Italy, Gruppo Sportivo Forestale
2.  Ben Barczewski, Allentown, PA Alliance Environmental Systems
3.  Kenny Williams, Kenmore, WA, First Rate Mortgage

Men’s Miss-n-Out
1.  Emile Abraham, Atlanta GA, Trinidad/Tobago National Team / Team Type 1
2.  Daniele DeFranceschi, Windsor Ont/Canda, JetFuel Coffee
3.  Kenny Williams, Kenmore, WA, First Rate Mortgage

Men’s Omnium
1.  Emile Abraham, Atlanta GA, Trinidad/Tobago National Team / Team Type 1 29 points
2.  Ben Barczewski, Allentown, PA Alliance Environmental Systems 27 points
3.  Roberto Chiappa, Italy, Gruppo Sportivo Forestale 26 Points

Women’s Standing Lap
1.  Colleen Hayduk, Kutztown, PA, Kutztown Inn/Bicycling World 21.539
2.  Cari Higgins, Boulder CO, America’s Dairyland  21.998
3.  Karen Claeys, Seattle WA, Avanti 22.164

Women’s Miss-n-Out
1.  Cari Higgins, Boulder CO, America’s Dairyland 
2.  Annette Williams, Kenmore, WA, Avanti
3.  Jeniffer Triplett, Seattle, WA, Broadmark Capital

Women’s 1mile Sprint
1.  Cari Higgins, Boulder CO, America’s Dairyland 
2.  Jeniffer Triplett, Seattle, WA, Broadmark Capital
3.  Colleen Hayduk, Kutztown, PA, Kutztown Inn/Bicycling World

Women’s Keirin
1.  Colleen Hayduk, Kutztown, PA, Kutztown Inn/Bicycling World
2.  Jeniffer Triplett, Seattle, WA, Broadmark Capital
3.  Cari Higgins, Boulder CO, America’s Dairyland 

Women’s 10k Points Race
1.  Cari Higgins, Boulder CO, America’s Dairyland 
2.  Annette Williams, Kenmore, WA, Avanti
3.  Veronica Martinez, Allentown PA, JVR Sports/Argentinian National Team

Women’s Handicap
1.  Clare Vlahopoulos, Victoria,Australia, America’s Dairyland
2.  Colleen Hayduk, Kutztown, PA, Kutztown Inn/Bicycling World
3.  Melissa Dahlmann, Minneapolis, MN, UA

Women’s Miss-n-Out
1.  Colleen Hayduk, Kutztown, PA, Kutztown Inn/Bicycling World
2.  Jeniffer Triplett, Seattle, WA, Broadmark Capital
3.  Annette Williams, Kenmore, WA, Avanti

Women’s Chariot
1.  Cari Higgins, Boulder CO, America’s Dairyland
2.  Colleen Hayduk, Kutztown, PA, Kutztown Inn/Bicycling World
3.  Veronica Martinez, Allentown PA, JVR Sports/Argentinian National Team

Women’s 12k Scratch Race
1.  Jeniffer Triplett, Seattle, WA, Broadmark Capital
2.  Colleen Hayduk, Kutztown, PA, Kutztown Inn/Bicycling World
3.  Cari Higgins, Boulder CO, America’s Dairyland

Women’s Omnium
1.  Colleen Hayduk, Kutztown, PA, Kutztown Inn/Bicycling World
2.  Cari Higgins, Boulder CO, America’s Dairyland
3.  Jeniffer Triplett, Seattle, WA, Broadmark Capital