Fort Custer Stampede

Photo courtesy of Tara  Plante
Photo courtesy of Tara Plante

 

The Fort Custer Stampede is a favorite for many WSI riders for many reasons; one being that it is home turf. Being close to home means racing with your bike family (everyone you ride and train with), seeing those familiar faces from the trails, and knowing the course like the back of your hand. This year the event took place on Sunday, May 2nd and the weather was perfect!

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As a part of this event, WSI headed up a food tent for racers and their families to be able to have a grilled burger, hot dog, chips and water while at the photo 1event. Providing over 500 servings of burgers and hot dogs combined definitely took a community effort! With a combination of donations from Home Depot of Plainwell for charcoal, Bandeen Orthodontics and Team Active for food and water no one left hungry! For the second year in a row we also rounded up photo 2goodwill donations for an amazing program, the Hot Wheels Bike Shop. The Hot Wheels Bike Shop is an program that teaches middle school students team building and practical skills while also learning how to fix up bikes. At the end of the program each student gets their own bike. The program is taught at Battle Creek Public Schools by one of our WSI riders, Dan Frayer. We raised over $650 for the program, allowing them money to buy much needed bike stands!

On to the racing……19499_1626161094265247_1419507661603240779_n

WSI had 14 riders participating in the Stampede ranging from 5 y/o to 50+! Peyton Elder and Jacob Goff took on the Beginner challenge for the 10 and under age group. Jacob improved his time dramatically from last year and it was Peyton’s first year racing with the “big boys”. The boys finished 31 seconds apart with Jacob coming in at 1:28:59 and Peyton at 1:29:30. Not too shabby for a couple of 7 year olds!

11147036_829381503818935_8588014849308065267_oAlso riding beginner were Dilan Goff, who placed 2nd in the 11-14 a/g and David Goff Sr.

The sport class was full of WSI riders and great competition! Kellie Kramer raced Stampede for the first time and loved it, placing 2nd in her a/g. Keith Wilkinson, Stacy Rainey, and Dave Cobeen also rode sport. And we cannot forget the sport class fat tire riders Dan Frayer and Dwight Denisuik. Once again, Danimal Frayer (as Dwight is lovingly referring to him as) inched his way past 11205562_1626161880931835_6024702804166111676_nDwight with a 6th place finish at 1:32:34. Dwight was a mere 1 second behind with a 7th place finish at 1:32:35. Dwight is determined to beat Dan by the end of the season and the gap is closing!

Racing expert were Matt Gaffner and Charles Elder. Matt decided he was not quite ready to hang with the expert boys yet and is highly considering sport for next year. He may not realize there is a rule about not turning back once you go expert. Charles chose expert so he had time to finish and be able to ride with Peyton in the beginner race. He knew he was out of his league but put his best pedal forward and rode hard.

Overall, it was a successful day on the course and on the grill! For more great pictures of the event check out our Fort Custer Stampede photo album on Facebook. While you’re there, make sure to “LIKE” our page.

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WSI Rider Results:

Expert

Matt Gaffner 2:06:32

Charles Elder 2:18:45

 

Sport

Keith Wilkinson 1:34:33

David Goff 1:35:32

Stacy Rainey 1:36:21

Dave Cobeen 1:38:36

Kellie Kramer 1:45:56

 

Sport Fat Tire

Dan Frayer 1:32:34

Dwight Denisiuk 1:32:35

 

Beginner

Dilan Goff 54:35

David Goff Sr. 1:08:32

Jacob Goff 1:28:59

Peyton Elder 1:29:30

 

Kid’s Race

Carson Elder