Cohutta 100 kicks off National Ultra-Endurance Series

By Sue George

Not many 100 mile (161 km) races come down to a sprint finish, but that's exactly what happened in the women's race at the Cohutta 100, the first 100 mile race of the seven-race National Ultra-Endurance (NUE) Series held on Saturday, April 21.

After more than 8.5 hours of racing, Danielle Musto (Slingshot) outsprinted Carey Lowery (Outdoor Store). Her margin of victory was only two seconds or about the diameter of a wheel. Musto had been leading the race for nearly the last 35 miles when she was caught from behind by Lowery. The two women have raced against each other before - twice last year, Lowery won and once Musto won, so Musto knew she was in for a tough fight.

"It was one of the best finishes ever. There was a climb, everyone was screaming for us. I won by a wheel length. I've never had to sprint for a finish in my life, let alone at the end of 100 miles. It made it that much better," said Musto.

On the men's side, experienced 24 hour endurance races contested a relatively short race. Chris Eatough (Trek / VW) won the men's race ahead of Tinker Juarez.

Eatough initially pulled away from his competition in the early singletrack section of the race, but on the road, a small group eventually formed and caught him. That group included racers like Juarez and Brandon Draugelis (Bare Naked / Cannondale). Eatough later attacked and got away for good around the midpoint of the race.

"It was the fastest 100 mile mountain bike race," said Eatough referring to the quick times. He finished in 6:45:42. "I rode a lot of it by myself. I probably rode eight miles at beginning and middle with small groups. The rest of it, I did by myself."

Eatough finished about fifteen minutes ahead of Juarez, but he never knew the full magnitude of his gap, so he had to push the entire distance. "I knew it was a least a minute and a half because of places I could see back on the climbs, but beyond that I didn't know," said Eatough, who rode with confidence and good fortune, meaning no mechanicals, to victory.

Click here for full results and report. Look for both Eatough and Musto at several of the other upcoming NUE series races. The next event is the Mohican 100 on June 2.