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Cycle-mania
Published: December 31. 2009 4:00AM PSTCycle-mania
From road racing to mountain biking, and from BMX to cyclocross, Central Oregon has been a bicycling hotbed for years. But events of 2009 certified the region as a cycling mecca. In June, the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic stage race drew record fields for its 30th year, including cycling notables Floyd Landis and Taylor Phinney. Just two days after Spain's Oscar Sevilla and New York City's Evelyn Stevens were crowned men's and women's CCC champions, an estimated 800 riders started a weeklong series of races in Bend in the USA Cycling Road National Championships. And just this month, more national champions were determined as more than 1,600 cyclists tore up a course in Bend's Old Mill District for the 2009 USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships. The four-day 'cross event drew thousands of spectators, including an estimated 5,000 on the final day for the men's and women's elite championship races.e_SClBRESILIENT COWGIRLS
Resilient Cowgirls
The long odds against Crook County winning a fourth consecutive Class 5A high school volleyball state championship grew longer when the school district eliminated funding for all extracurricular activities, including athletics. The cuts left the Cowgirls to spend much of the offseason raising funds simply to get back out on the court in the fall. Not only did the Cowgirls return, they did so in style, winning a share of the Intermountain Conference title before defeating IMC co-champion Summit of Bend in the 5A championship final. Crook County became just the second Oregon team ever to win four straight state volleyball titles.e_SClBEATON'S RISE
Eaton's Rise
For Bend's Ashton Eaton, the season started in March with a victory in the heptathlon at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Nationals. It ended in August in Berlin, where the Mountain View High graduate and University of Oregon junior placed 18th in a field of 38 starters in the decathlon at the World Track & Field Championships. In between, Eaton won his second consecutive Pac-10 Conference decathlon title, and he likewise repeated as NCAA champ. In late June, he qualified for his first World Championships by placing second at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Eugene.
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