In their first race of the collegiate season, the UCLA cycling
team placed first out of 13 southern California schools at the
Boulevard Road Race, and Bruin cyclists won four out of five
categories Saturday by wide margins.
“I had a strong feeling we would win it again this year
because we fielded our largest team ever,” said David Bruno,
graduate student and president of the cycling club. “I expect
UCLA to be on top the rest of the season.”
Individually, five Bruins finished in the top 10 in the
Men’s As category, two in the Women’s As, five in
Men’s Bs and four in Women’s Bs. UCLA riders also took
third and fourth in Men’s Cs.
Senior Bernard Van Ulden finished first in Men’s As and
Susan Givin finished second in Women’s As.
The men’s As competitors raced three laps over the hilly
22-mile course, located an hour east of San Diego, while the
Men’s Bs and Woman’s As competitors raced two laps and
Woman’s Bs and Men’s Cs raced only one lap.
Bruin cyclists also gave strong showings in Sunday’s Red
Trolley Classic criterium.
A criterium is a multi-lap race around a 1-kilometer course
which emphasizes position and sprinting. Several times during the
race, the referee will announce a sprint lap ““ a
“preem” ““ with extra points for the first three
finishers.
Senior Karl Erickson placed first in the Men’s A
criterium, and several Bruins, including sophomore Ben Weston and
senior Marcus George, took preems.
The team’s success in San Diego has made Bruin cyclers
optimistic about their season, but there are many challenging races
ahead. The team will be traveling to Northern California for
another competition this Saturday.
For more information visit
www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/cycling.