PRESQUE ISLE — Beautiful sunny skies and a slate of fun bike events greeted participants of this year’s TAMC/NHSC Fat Tire Festival at the Nordic Heritage Center. The August 1st and 2nd event drew mountain bike enthusiast from around the County, state and as far away as Texas. The weekend was kicked off Saturday morning with a group mountain bike ride and didn’t stop until Sunday afternoon.
Contributed photo/Brent Jepson
Young bicyclists take off at the start of the kids race held during the Fat Tire Festival at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle Aug. 2.
On Aug. 1, kids of all ages took part in a mountain bike rodeo, which included events such as wheelie contest, Huffy toss, tire drag and a terrain park obstacle course. The event was followed by the first-ever mountain bike biathlon at the venue. Racers completed three two-kilometer laps, shooting five shots between each lap.
The afternoon wrapped up with a downhill mountain bike race. Racers zipped down the one-mile course and finished by jumping off three wooden ramps. Spectators lined the bottom of the course to see racers catch some air. There were six registered in the men’s race, one in the women’s and 15 in the boys’ division.
Chad McPherson of Caribou took first place in the men’s race with a time of 2 minutes, 16.18 seconds. The runner-up was Ed Therrien of Presque Isle in 2:19.59, while Benjamin Stevens, Jr. of Princeton was third in 2:20.35.
The lone competitor for women was Eileen Carey of Presque Isle, whose time was 2:46.02.
Staff photo/Kevin SjobergRyan Washington of Caribou took second place in his division of the Fat Tire Festival mountain bike race held in Presque Isle Aug. 2.
In the boys’ division, Adam Curtis of Presque Isle was the winner in 2:16.73. Ridge Mortland of Presque Isle was second in 2:20.46 and Drew Bates of Presque Isle was third in 2:32.66.
A pasta feed and bonfire capped off the day and allowed Sunday’s racers to fuel up for the cross-country competition.
On Aug. 2, the venue was a buss of excitement. The day began with a kids’ bike race, which gave young cyclists from ages 3-13 a chance to show their speed on two (or three) wheels.
In the girls’ age 8 and under category, Leah Ruck won with a time of 57 seconds. Julie Bartley was second and Araya Caverhill took third. For boys, Samuel Everett was first in 49 seconds and Cullin Caverhill the runner-up in 52 seconds.
For age 9-10 girls, Molly Shay won in 7:25. On the boys’ side, Max Bartley took the top spot in 3:39, with Loel Ruck second in 3:43 and Grant Stewart third in 3:48. James Seymour (4:11) and Liam Everett (4:22) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
The girls 11-12 division was captured by Morgann Towle in 6:35. The top three in the boys race, were, in order of placement, Jason Bartley (5:24), Gannon Therrien (5:28) and Keegan Ennis (5:31).
After the kids showed everyone how it was done, adults took to the start line for one, two or three laps of a 7.5-mile single track course. The hot weather and hilly and technical terrain threw many challenges at the 50 racers and made for some great performances.
In the junior boys novice race, 7.5 miles in length, Chris Couture of Farmington won in 53:39, with Ryan Washington of Caribou second in 54:18 and Drew Bates of Presque Isle third in 54:59. Austin Caverhill of Caribou and Joel Shay of Presque Isle were other local competitors.
Eric Holmes of Ellsworth won the men’s novice division, also 7.5 miles, in 47:07. Rob Rothe of Holden was second in 47:13 and Neil Fisher of Old Town third in 52:57.
In the men’s sport class, a 15-mile event, Tom Towle of Fort Fairfield placed first in 1:39:14. Gabriel Crooker of Old Town was next in 1:39:15 and Bryan Budd of Saco third in 1:39:16. Hal Stewart, Jason Ennis and Kyle Bartley, all of Presque Isle, also competed along with Brent Grass of Blaine.
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
Fort Fairfield’s Tom Towle captured the top position in the men’s sport division in the Fat Tire Festival feature event, which took place at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle Aug. 2.
In the single speed 22.5-mile race, Kaj Huld of Portland won in 2:14:24.
Heidi Bach of Bangor claimed the victory in the women’s novice class with a 1:00:39 clocking. Lori Doran of Boerne, Texas was second in 1:02:23 and Niki Milleson of Orono was third in 1:02:47.
For the women’s sport class, 15 miles in length, Sarah Gahagan of Presque Isle fashioned a winning time of 1:37:28, with Eileen Carey of Presque Isle second in 1:48:12 and Caryn Prudente of Falmouth third in 1:55:07.
Mathieu Maltais of Edmunston, New Brunswick won the men’s expert (22.5 miles) race in 1:58:34. Gregory Sivik of Orono was second in 2:03:46 and Rick Nelson of Edgecomb third in 2:03:55. Ed Therrien of Presque Isle, Von Perry of Easton and Joseph St. Peter of Presque Isle were others from the area in the division.
A barbecue awaited bikers when they crossed the finish line.
