Bikers Race in Rasputitsa

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Created on Monday, 18 April 2016 21:09

Written by Alexa Richard

BURKE- Bikers traveled from 21 states to take the starting line of the Rasputitsa bike race in East Burke this Saturday. Close to 700 bikers came out for the gravel road race.

"This is the first really great day we've had this spring," Kingdom Trails owner Tim Tierney said. "We're really happy about the turnout."

The number of people participating in the race increased by 200 people from last year.

The race first started in 2014 as part of the "Dirty 40" in Newport Vermont. In the first year of the race, the founders say they were just trying to get 50 riders to travel on the back roads around Vermont, but in the years since, they have started one of the best gravel road races in the state. This weekend was the second time the race was held in East Burke, where dry weather led participants to complete the race in record time.

"It's amazing it was super dry," racer Iain Radford said. "It's usually a little more wet and colder so it's fast and dry which is unusual for this time of year in Vermont."

"They're not dealing with the snow and ice but it's still pretty roughed terrain where these people are headed through so these people have been through some muddy areas," Tierney said.

Lyne Bessette of Topsfield, MA came in first place for the women with a total time of 2:18:11.8. Kate Northcott from Walpole, NH took second place with a time of 2:22:36.3. Then, Julie Wright from Belmont, MA came in third with 2:28:44.7.

The total bikers for the women's race were 87 with ages ranging up to 40-59 age group.

The men bikers had nearly the four times the amount of women with 457 participants with ages going into the 60-99 age group.

Ansel Dickey, who was in the 1-23 age group from Woodstock, VT, took first for the men's with a total time of 2:03:47.9. Matt Surch from Ottawa, Ontario took second with a time of 2:05:21.6. Marc-André Daigle from Montreal, Quebec was less than two seconds behind Surch taking third place with a time of 2:07:05.3.

Residents from the NEK also participated in the race. Rebecca Lowe from Lyndonville came in 19 overall in the women's race and 11th in her 40-59 age category with a time of 2:49:50.0. Also from Lyndonville, George Lowe came in 27th in the men's race and was 14th in the 40-59 age category.

Thomas De Carlo from East Burke came in 401 and 11th in the 60-99 age group with a total time of 3:41:32.0.

For more information on times, log onto http://802timing.com/results/16results/bikeresults/4.16.16overallrasputitsa.htm.

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