Competitive Valley cyclists are making a name for themselves, leaving local and national competition in the dust.
Two Valley cycling veterans competed in the recent U.S. Elite, U-23 and Junior National Road Championships, held Aug. 6 to 10 in Anaheim, Calif.
Tom Peterson of Snoqualmie finished tied for second in the U-23 road race on Sunday, Aug. 10, with a time of 4:34:06, just one second behind winner Kirk Carlsen of New Hampshire. Peterson tied teammate Peter Stetina for that second place spot.
This was the third of three races Peterson participated in while in California. On Thursday, Aug. 7, he finished 25th in the U-23 criterium, a shorter distance race than the longer road race, with a time of 1:18:35.10, and on Wednesday, Aug. 6, he finished 15th in the U-23 time trial with a time of 48:11. Peterson has had a solid spring and summer season, with excellent efforts in races in New Mexico and Oregon.
Fall City’s Eric Emsky also participated in the road races in California. He did not start the criterium on Aug. 7, but raced the junior level road race on Aug. 10, finishing 75th with a time of 2:41:54.
That result did not disappoint Emsky. According to his mom, Jenny, Eric’s mission was to help his teammates do well.
“His role for his team, Rad Racing Northwest-Hagens Berman LLC, was to not allow riders breaking away from the field to potentially win the race and to make sure that his teammates were in good positions for an overall placing,” Jenny Emsky told the Valley Record.
That objective was met, as teammate Jordan Campbell finished seventh in the race.
Emsky has had a great summer, with a couple of top five finishes in the USA Cycling Mountain Bike national championships in Vermont. Both of these riders have been featured in past Valley Record issues; Peterson in 2005 and Emsky last summer.
Meanwhile, a couple of North Bend youths made noise in the local cycling scene, as they both did well in the final race of the “Indie Series,” held Aug. 10 in Greenwater.
Jackson Burklund, 10, won the race in the junior boys 10 and under division, and the victory clinched the series championship in that division for the soon-to-be fourth grader at North Bend Elementary. The “Indie Series” consisted of several races held this spring and summer, in various locations around Washington. Each of the races had distances of over six miles apiece.
He also won races in Roslyn and on Whidbey Island this season, in addition to the Greenwater win.
Burklund’s older brother Jarred, who will be an eighth grade student at Twin Falls Middle School this fall, also competed in the Greenwater event, in the 11-14 junior boys’ division, and finished second in that competition.
Jackson, just in his first year of competitive cycling, also competed in a racing series known as the Black Diamond — West Side Mountain Bike series, and he also took top honors in that series’ 18-and-under beginner class.
