Fluckiger, Irmiger win Iceman

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Record-Eagle/Keith KingLukas Fluckiger is the first in the Pro Men division to cross the finish line Saturday, November 5, 2011 at Timber Ridge Resort during the 22nd annual Iceman Cometh. Record-Eagle/Keith King/Keith King
Record-Eagle/Keith KingHeather Irimiger, of Boulder, Colo., is the first in the Pro Women division Saturday, November 5, 2011 during the 22nd annual Iceman Cometh. Record-Eagle/Keith King/Keith King

November 6, 2011

Fluckiger, Irmiger win Iceman Cometh

By MIKE ECKERT meckert@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Wed Feb 15, 2012, 11:31 AM EST

TRAVERSE CITY — The grueling 29-mile mountain bike ride from Kalkaska to Timber Ridge Resort on Saturday was nothing compared to the distance many riders traveled for the annual Iceman Cometh.

Switzerland’s Lukas Fluckiger won the men’s pro title while Heather Irmiger from Boulder, Colo., took the women’s race in a star-studded field.

“The Iceman is huge, but the most impressive thing is how many local, recreational riders you get out here,” said Canada’s Catharine Pendrel, who is the reigning world champion. “Obviously, Iceman is doing something right to get so many people that want to be out here racing. From little kids to adults. It’s truly awesome.”

Experience was a factor in the women’s race, as Irmiger won in 1 hour, 46 minutes, 1 second. She held off Chloe Woodruff (1:46:13) and Pendrel (1:47:03), who were both competing in the Iceman for the first time.

“I think it does,” Irmiger said to experience helping her get the win. “It’s a very tactical race. Every year is different, but there’s probably five places you can probably bookmark in your mind (to attack).”

Irmiger, who has finished third in previous Iceman races, got advice from her husband, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, on when to attack.

I’ve done some really stupid things before, so my goal was to be really smart today,” Chloe put in a really smart attack at about 4K to go. I was on Catharine’s wheel and she got 30 feet on us. I thought I needed to get my butt in gear, so I attacked on the climb before the last section of single track, because that’s what my husband told me to do.”

It was really close at the end,” Woodruff said. “I gave it everything I had, but it came down to Heather making the right move. At that point, I didn’t have anything left.”

Not only was it Irmiger’s first win at the Iceman Cometh, but it also gave her a victory against the world champ. Pendrel wore a rainbow on her jersey to signify the honor.

“It’s pretty cool,” Irimiger said. “I race against Catharine all the time. But it’s good to put the rainbow behind me.”

Both defending champs, Amanda Carey (1:48:32) and Brian Matter (1:33:18) finished fourth.

In the men’s race, Fluckiger held off Jeremiah Bishop by four seconds to win his first Iceman in 1:33:05.

“I hear a lot about this race and now I’m here and I’m so happy to win the race,” Fluckiger said.

The top seven males all finished within a minute of Fluckiger’s time.

“The race was incredibly fast,” Fluckiger said. “I tried in the beginning to (push in front) but it was hard. Too fast and the wind was very strong too.”

“The first third of it was chaos,” said Sam Schultz, who finished third. “There were way too many people up there that were quite a bit over their limit. Man, it was just full throttle. Lukas put on some moves and whittled the group down.”

Bishop and Fluckiger got in a battle at the end, but Fluckiger — who rides for the Swiss national team and finished fifth in the recent world championships — held on for the win.

“I attacked like crazy with 2K to go,” Bishop said. “I didn’t really look over my shoulder, but I got pinched by (Fluckiger). He led the two-track nice and slow, we jammed the hill, and I got up in the lead. I thought it was a little too early to take the lead and I should have just jammed it home. But I let him come around so I could draft off of him and then I couldn’t get around him in the finale.”

Fluckiger’s brother, Matthias, finished eighth.

“I attacked and tried to soften those guys up, but they weren’t having it,” Bishop said. “They had two teammates, so if anyone tried to get away, they’d chase me down. It was NASCAR out there. It’s definitely not your normal mountain bike race. It’s not your strongest guy, it’s often decided by tactics and teamwork. If I had a teammate out here, I would have won for sure. No doubt about it. I was the strongest in the final circuit.”

Bishop (1:33:07) and Schultz (1:33:13) each moved up one spot from their finish last year. Schultz’s third-place finish was just better than Matter.

“I’ve got to give a shout-out to Brian Matter,” Schultz said. “He was throwing it all on the line. He made some smart moves on that finish stretch, but crashed around a corner.”

While the annual Iceman Cometh has seen its fair share of bad weather over the years, Saturday’s temps in the 50s led to fast racing.

“It’s not the Iceman, it was the Sunman,” Fluckiger said. “But it was cool. It was fast and you have to be smart the whole way and not attack too much.”

“I like this stuff,” Woodruff said. “I’m from Tuscon, Ariz., so for me to come out here, I thought it was really cold. I could have been a different kind of day out there. I’m used to racing in all sorts of weather. I like racing in some sloppy stuff, but it was fast today and I think overall that kind of played to my strengths.”