Philicia Marion Wins the Burn 24 hour Challenge!

Over Memorial Day Weekend, the Burn 24 hour challenge took place in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The Kenda/KMC/Hayes Team supported Philicia Marion, as she entered her first-ever solo 24-hour event. The race began furiously at noon on Saturday, with Philicia and another solo female battling for the first several hours. Many lead changes took place with neither seemingly able to hold onto a gap. Finally, as the night hours came, Philicia showed she could handle the challenge. Philicia was able to keep a steady pace with the help of teammates Robert Marion and Chase Dickens keeping her times through the transition area very short, many under one minute. As daybreak came, it was clear that Philicia would take victory, being ahead of any other competitors by more than 5 laps. She continued on and completed 23 laps of the 7.5 mile course in 23:11. Her effort also gave her a 6th place overall among the solo men competitors as well.

Photo by backboneracing.com

Kenda/KMC/Hayes earns podiums at Kenda Cup East

The Kenda/KMC/Hayes Professional Mountain Bike team competed in the first round of the Kenda Cup East the first weekend in May. The event took place at The Ocoee Whitewater Center in Ducktown, TN during the wettest weekend the southeast has seen this year. The first event of the weekend, the up-hill time trial, had racers climbing 2 wet, muddy miles to the top of the race-course. Robert Marion was the first racer, and set the bar high enough that no one would be able to match. Robert won the time-trial by over 12 seconds to second place. Anina Aaron would be the first female to climb, also setting a high bar with a low time. Her time would hold up against the ladies, and most of the men, coming in twelfth overall! The second and third place ladies actually had a tying time, so they shared the 2nd place podium spot, with Philicia coming in seconds later, earning a fourth place finish against the ladies, and Chase Dickens also had a podium finish, with a third in the Cat 1 class.
The rain continued, and so did the racing! On Sunday, the cross-country race began in a down-pour. Robert earned a fourth place finish in the Pro Men. Anina finished third in the Pro Women, with Philicia just off the podium in 6th. Chase Dickens raced against the Junior Cat 1 and also finished just off the podium in 6th place. The next scheduled race for the team is the second round of the Kenda Cup East in Birmingham, Alabama for the Bump&Grind.