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2011 Recap

Joe Homer Threepetes as King of the 2011 Tour de Kingdom, Double Century Challenge

Laurie “Pinkie” Durivage is crowned Queen of the Double Day

Derby, VT – The Fifth Annual Tour de Kingdom finished off five days of cycling with its back to back Double Century Challenge on Saturday and Sunday.  There was also some fine cycling throughout the week and on the shorter courses over the weekend.  When the dust settled, Joe Homer, 58, of Lancaster, NH, riding for White Mountain Velo defended his title as King of the Double Century Challenge.  Joe posted a collective, two day time of 12:29:20 covering 210 miles of riding to threepete as our Tour Champion.  But the win was thin, just 10 seconds ahead of Travis McMaster, 38, of Anthem, Arizona, appearing as Ambassador of TriSport.com, one of the Tour’s newest sponsors.  Travis took Day One, the Western Hill Country with 9,000 feet of climb, pulling away from the pack with a time 6:07:07.  It looked like the “Old Dog” was done sitting in second with a time of 6:31:25, 24 minutes and 18 seconds off Travis’s blistering pace.  But Travis spent the first part of Sunday’s ride dawdling with his buddies.  Somewhere around East Burke, he remembered that this was a “timed event” and took off.  But it was too late to catch up to Joe, falling just short by 10 seconds of claiming the title.   It was a lot of fun watching that play out.  (Travis is a great guy.  It was a total pleasure having him join us.  In fact one of my favorite photos of the weekend is the shot of him passing some Gu to Daisy Roberts when she couldn’t reach her own and was cold and tiring on Thursday rainy day ride through Moose country.)  Third place for the combined both days went to Jeffrey Warner, 46, Bow, NH with a pretty impressive time of 12:42:05.

Queen of the Double Century Challenge was our very own Laurie “Pinkie” Durivage of Derby, VT who posted a collective time of 13:26:26.  Second place among the women went to Becky, Hebert-Sweeny of Gorham, NH, with a time of 14:23:48.
New this year, the competition for “The Fastest Five,” was won by our local Kingdom Velo Group (featuring Randy Durivage, Laurie Durivage, John Lippman, Herb Maroot, and Marc Bouchard) who defended our home turf against the Boston Sports Club Team (Derek Chisteler, Mark Farewell, Greg Bouvier, Christopher Villani, Kevin Farewell and Adam Littman).

There was some wonderful, good spirited riding throughout the weekend, at all levels of cycling, as evidenced by the 6 way tie for Second Place on Sunday’s ride and the fact that over half of the riders simply ignored all of that foolishness.  They took the guided rides during the week and the shorter courses over the weekend; they stopped to smell the flowers and the first cut of hay; and you could see them all over the place stopping to simply enjoy (and photograph) the broad vistas of the Kingdom.   
Here are the times of the top three finishers in the timed event. 
Saturday – Male

  1. 6:07:07            Travis McMaster, 38, Anthem, AZ  (TriSports.com)
  2. 6:31:55            Joe Homer, 58, Lancaster, NH (White Mountain Velo)
  3. 6:32:04            Anthony Moccia, 28, Newport, VT (Bare Bones Racing)

Saturday – Female

  1. 6:44:40            Christine Bengston, 51, St. Johnsbury, VT (White Mountain Velo)
  2. 6:57:28            Laurie Durivage, 47, Derby, VT (Kingdom Velo Group)
  3. 7:23:09            Francine Amyot, 47, St. Romuald, QC

Sunday – Male

  1. 5:57:00            Greg Bouvier, 35, Attleboro, MA (Boston Sports Club)
  2.  5:57:25           Joe Homer, 58, Lancaster, NH (White Mountain Velo)

Jeffrey Warner, 46 Bow, NH
Brett S. Clair, 54, Dunbarton, NH (White Mountain Velo)
Derek Christeler, 28, South Boston, (Boston Sports Club)
Mark Farewell, 23, Brookline, MA (Boston Sports Club)
Abe Menzin, 34, Newton, MA

  1. 5:59:05            John Lippman, Derby, VT (Kingdom Velo Group)

Marc Bouchard, Newport, VT (Kingdom Velo Group)
Sunday – Female

  1. 6:28:58            Laurie Durivage,47, Derby, VT (Kingdom Velo Group)
  2. 6:38:52            Becky Hebert-Sweeny, 49, Gorham, NH

Combined – Male

  1. 12:29:20          Joe Homer, 58, Lancaster, NH (White Mountain Velo)
  2. 12:29:30          Travis McMaster, 38, Anthem, AZ (TriSport.com)
  3. 12:42:05          Jeffrey Warner, 46, Bow, NH           

Combined – Female

  1. 13:26:26          Laurie Durivage, 47, Derby, VT (Kingdom Velo Group)
  2. 14:23:48          Becky Hebert-Sweeny, 49, Gorham, NH      

Combined - Fastest Five

  1. 67:33:45          Kingdom Velo Group
  2. 72:07:50          Boston Sports Club

Travis McMaster also won the award for the “furthest travelled” to the event, a customized Louis Garneau Tour de Kingdom Jersey.  The prize for the “most mature” century participant went to Bob Williams, age 66, of Truro, Nova Scotia.  He receives a set of the work by Paul Lefevre, Perimeter Check I & II.  Bob rode in the Tour as coach to Margaret “Daisy” Roberts, who rode in all five days of the Tour as part of her training for the Crafts Alps Stage Race.  Her Hub Cycle team included Dawn Moxsom, also of Truro, who has taken up racing and signed on for three days of riding, also to train on some hills.

All in all 56 cyclists participated in one or both days of the timed event.  It was fun to watch it all play out.  The rest of the cyclists (126 in all) did the non-timed century, many of the shorter courses set out for the weekend, or joined us for the guided rides on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.  It was a great good time catching up with those of you out on the road simply to enjoy some fine cycling, great scenery and a wonderful day or two or three or four or five. 

The Tour de Kingdom has grown from 50 largely local cyclists participating in a one day event in 2007 to 126 cyclists registering for 301 days of riding in 2011.  Two years ago, in 2009, the Double Century Challenge was added as a timed event.  Last year, the guided Ride Around the Lake was added.  This year two more days of guided riding were added: Wednesday’s ride through Barton, Glover, Greensboro, Craftsbury, and Irasburg and Thursday’s ride starting in Island Pond and traveling through Norton, Canaan, Pittsburg (NH), Colebrook (NH) and Bloomfield.   Each of these days appeared to be extremely well received by those riding.  And the guides did a wonderful job so that all levels of cyclist could participate and enjoy the day.  The event was hosted by IROC as a fundraiser for its Healthy Changes Initiative.  Kingdom Velo Group, White Mountain Velo, Bare Bones Racers, and LIVESTRONG - Mass Army participated on the Organizing Committee and led the guided rides.  The Village Bike Shop and Littleton Bike Ship provided support for the cyclists during the five days of riding.  Derby Village Store provided the sandwich fixings, hot dogs, and hamburgers.  Special thanks to Poulin Lumber for donating two grills for our use at all of our events.  A little BBQ goes a long way after a solid day of riding. 

IROC’s battle hardened staff and volunteers were all over the tri county area supporting the event.  Support tables for Saturday’s ride were staffed by “The Mountain People,” volunteers from the Jay Peak Area Chamber of Commerce and Vermont Highland Cattle Company.  Participants commented on the friendliness and helpfulness of all the staff and volunteers throughout the event.

The Tour and all of our Summer Games would not be possible without the sponsorship of
Jay Peak, Community National  Bank, Vermont Highland Cattle Company, EastSide Restaurant,  MVP, North Country Hospital, Kinney Drugs Foundation, Wilson & White, P.C., Paul Decelles Investment Planning,  Jennifer Nelson, Esq., The Town of Derby, The Village Bike Shop, Littleton Bike Shop, Hayes Ford, Passumpsic Bank, Derby Village Store, Poulin Lumber, Louis Garneau, TriSports.com, Clyde River Recreation,  Memphremagog Press, The Pick and Shovel, BumWraps, Green Mountain Rock Crushers, Couture’s Sugar Shop and B&B, Community Financial Services Group, Stanstead College, Taylor-Moore, Millennium Integrated Marketing, Vermont Heritage Spring Water, ADA Flagging, Whipple Studio, and Woodknot Bookstore.