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Short Course Mountain Bike
Race
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Short Course Mountain Bike Race
presented by:
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Cucco of Italy wins gold for Italy for
Short Track event
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA (June 20, 2006) - Luigi Cucco (Italy)
captured gold for Short Track Mountain Bike event. Terence Parkin
(So. Africa) and Wayne Langbein (United States) walked away with
Silver and Bronze, respectively.
The first mountain bike event of 2006 World Deaf Cycling
Championship proved to be challenging and successful for some of
the elite racers under the scorching sun at California School for
the Deaf, Fremont. During 45-minute time elapsed short track race
with the crowd watching on, many riders had dynamic start, but
most faltered away after the first few laps while a few
maintained a steady pace throughout the race.
Matovcik Jr (Slovenkia) showed some dominance in the beginning,
pushing the pace in the front but it was not for long before he
lost the lead to Cucco (Italy) for good. Cucco, who benefited
from a brilliant tactical move in the early midway to close the
gap on the rest of the riders, took advantage of Matovciks sign
of difficulty to maintain the lead after a few laps and sealed
the lead for the rest of the race. Parkin (So. Africa) started
out seemingly ineffectual, but after a few laps he began to
advance with ease past weary looking riders as time elapsed, and
kept the pace before locking into second place for the remainder
of the race. Langbein (USA) showed strong poise for most of the
race and kept in the third place with a few times of near closing
in on Parkin. At times during the final minutes, he appeared to
have lost his juice and fell behind in fourth place, but then he
managed to give it an all out in time to claim the bronze
medal.
WDCC Press Team asked each of the medal winners some questions
about their views of the very first Deaf mountain bike events on
international competition level starting with Cucco, Parkin and
then Langbein.
I have 14 years of mountain bike racing experience, as well as
road racing, and I participated in hearing races and I did well
in many. I won many races in Italy. Finally have a Deaf mountain
bike event, and I thought I must join and I won! Cucco
explained.
When asked if Cucco will compete this Fridays long track event,
he answered, Yes, I already went to check the course and wow, a
steep course. Great course but I have to be careful not to get
hurt.
I feel good about the second place finish. It is my first time to
be involved in a cycling event like this. I have ample experience
in swimming but not cycling. I just started cycling 4 months ago,
and I heard about WDCC and I thought to myself I should go. Now,
I am in the second place! #2 is definitely my number, i.e.
swimming came in second place now, cycling, Parkin explained.
Usually, I only do road but this competition has Mountain Bike
events, I thought to myself, why not! First time riding mountain,
wow, very bumpy. I had no confidence in the beginning, but after
few laps, I gained confidence and felt I could do this. I
maintained a close watch on my Heart Rate Monitor as I do for
swimming, and I made sure I remained within normal HRM level and
my energy level. The others were not doing that and got them worn
out quickly. I used that strategy to give me a winning edge.
Parkin added.
Langbein said, I feel great! It is definitely long overdue with
hard work and practice anticipating this event. I am very happy
with WDCCs decision to change the site to California School for
the Deaf, Fremont where it would attract more fans I am pleased
with the outcome of the event, with good number of fans, and I
really appreciate support from the community. It was a great and
fun race! When asked about his view of the next mountain bike
event long track, he said, Im looking forward, some cyclists
specialize in certain areas, the long course will reflect those
skills and show overall best cyclist. That overall cyclist will
do best.
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