Tara Jansen and Barry Vanvolkinburg Thanks to an equal prize money, the women’s 62-mile race had its biggest and most talented field yet. Returning to the race were both last year’s winner Samantha Brode and runner-up Kim Thomas, as well as a local favorite, Amy Stauffer. A crash early in the race separated Amy Stauffer from the lead pack and forced her to chase for several miles. When she finally found a group of men that she could work with out on the open roads she had no idea what place she was in or how many women were in front of her. Eventually she and the group she was riding with bridged up to another group that included Samanatha Brode. From that point on both Brode and Stauffer were together until the final doubletrack section. Stauffer took advantage of her mountain bike background and was able to power through the sand. When she eventually looked back Brode was nowhere in sight. Stauffer rode alone to the finish and crossed the line with a time of 3:18:24. Samantha Brode finished a few minutes back with a time of 3:21:16 and Kathy Everts finished in third with a time of 3:28:23. Stephanie Swan and Amelia Moore rounded out the podium in fourth and fifth place respectively. Although shorter in distance the 36 and 24-mile races were NOT short in talent. Both the male and female categories had really large fields, with racers vying for both age group and overall wins. With 1500 cyclists competing, the Barry-Roubaix, otherwise known as "the killer gravel road race," is one of the largest cycling races in Michigan. It is held the last weekend in March and offers racers a choice of 3 distances: 65 miles, 36 miles or 24 miles. The Barry-Roubaix is named after 14 gtmtba.com SPRING 2012
Northern Motion