McJunkin, Rusch win Tahoe Trail 100k

Jamie McJunkin was the first dust-coated rider to cross the line at the the Tahoe Trail 100K Sunday in 4:09:46, over Peter Smith who finished in 4:14:02.

Smith led McJunkin through the start/finish at the end of the first lap of the dusty two-lap course. McJunkin overtook Smith there and held him off until the finish.

Cross country pro Jason Siegle was third in 4:19:08.

The two leaders took off early and were about a minute in front of Siegle heading into the first climb. By the top, Siegle was within 10 seconds of the leaders.

“There’s one descent that they post “dangerous” and there’s a big sweeping right turn that’s loose,” Siegle said after the finish. “I was trying to catch up to them on the downhill and I boogered the downhill and that was the last time I saw them. The second lap I was starting to crack and I kept looking over my shoulder making sure nobody was creeping up on me.”

“I’ve been mainly racing cross country races recently and nationals was only a couple weeks ago and it was a little rough,” said Siegle. “I haven’t done 60 miles hard in at least a couple months and I forgot what it’s like to suffer in that fourth hour.”

In the women’s race, nobody came close to the Queen of Pain, Rebecca Rusch. “The race was pretty chill for me,” said Rebecca, who came in 13th overall. “I was just racing the guys and riding my own race.”

Conrad Snover won the singlespeed category in 4:28:59, in eighth overall.

The final entries for the Leadville Trail 100 were announced at the awards ceremony underneath the Leadville Race Series banner at the top of the Tahoe gondola.

Leadville Qualifying Series partner, Strava, created a segment specifically for the race, as they had in the Silver Rush 50. Check out the leaderboard from the race within a race as racers download their rides.

Race results >>

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