2005 NCAA Track Championships

October 2, 2005

Single gear.  No brakes.  No coasting.  A fast track, under the lights.  A night dominated by Penn State riders, especially Sarah Uhl.

The 2005 NCAA Track Championships were held at the Ed Rudolph Velodrome in Northbrook, IL (if you go to the site, be sure to check out the amazing renovations completed in 2004; the track was built initially in 1959!).  This was a three-day event; we went for the final races on Saturday night, which also included the awards ceremony.

Never having witnessed such a race, we did not know that the women's sprint is all about intimidation and surprise.  The two riders eye each other for a lap or lap and a half, one trying to get the other to lose concentration.  They are barely moving most of the time.  Then, all of a sudden, one will just bolt.  They usually hit the finish line at 31+ mph.

The men's pursuit is a race against the clock with four riders participating.  Penn State stomped in this one.

The men's point race was 75 laps at top speed with about 40 or so riders in the race.  Intense.  There was amazingly only one crash (the riders seemed OK).  Again, Penn State dominated.

The final race was the women's sprint final.  Anna Lang had been dominating all of her opponents, but Sarah Uhl beat her in two straight races (in the first one, Lang's feet came flying out of the pedal clips and toe straps, somehow, so it was not really a race).  We saw Uhl riding constantly, always warming up and staying loose.  During the initial warm ups she was normally outpacing the men.

We subsequently learned that Penn State's Uhl was a World Champion as a junior.  An Internet search shows that she wins all of the time and often as a pro (I am not sure how this works what with being in college and all).  Sheesh, I guess we should have gotten her autograph.  But really, all of the riders were amazing.  Real athletes here, folks.  What a fun night!

You can click on any image below to see a larger version.

Warm up peloton        Warm up and infield    Uhl and men warming up    Start of men's point race    Starting line

Uhl winning it all        Uhl and UWM rider        The track              Men's point race        More men's point race

Team pursuit            Nance and Erin        Alan and Nance