Colorado Springs, Colo. – USA Cycling announced today the 10 riders who were approved by the Selection Committee to compete at the 2019 Pan American Continental Mountain Bike XCO Championships. The event will take place in Aguascalientes, Mexico April 3-7, 2019. Among the competitors are current Elite Women’s World Champion Kate Courtney (San Francisco, Calif.; Scott-SRAM) and U23 Men’s World Championships Silver Medalist Christopher Blevins (Durango, Colo.; Specialized Bicycles Factory Racing Team)
“We are sending a very strong team down to the Pan Am Championships in Aguascalientes,” said Mountain Bike Director for USA Cycling, Marc Gullickson, “This will be a great opportunity to collect valuable UCI points for our top elite riders and we have strong medal contenders in the categories we are competing.”
Along with Courtney and Blevins, are National Champions Howard Grotts (Durango, Colo.; Specialized Factory Racing Team) and Erin Huck (Boulder, Colo.; CZ Racing).
2019 Pan American Championships Roster:
Elite Women
Kate Courtney* (San Francisco, Calif.; Scott-SRAM)
Erin Huck* (Boulder, Colo.; CZ Racing)
Chloe Woodruff* (Prescott, Ariz.; Stan's-Pivot Pro Team p/b Maxxis)
Elite Men
Howard Grotts* (Durango, Colo.; Specialized Bicycles Factory Racing Team)
Luke Vrouwenvelder (Chapel Hill, N.C.; lukeVcoaching.com p/b Violich Farms)
Keegan Swenson (Park City, Utah; Stan's-Pivot Pro Team p/b Maxxis)
Russell Finsterwald (Colorado Springs, Colo.; Cliff Pro Team)
U23 Women
Haley Batten* (Park City, Utah; Clif Pro Team)
U23 Men
Christopher Blevins* (Durango, Colo.; Specialized Bicycles Factory Racing Team)
Junior Men
Riley Amos (Bear Development Team; Durango, Colo.)
Automatic qualifiers are noted with an asterisk (*).
Note: USA Cycling is not fielding a squad of Junior Women due to the fact that there were no automatic qualifiers or individuals who filled out discretionary petitions and met the standards.
The Pan American Championships are held annually for member nations of the Pan American Cycling Confederation. Riders competing in the Pan American Cycling Championships are selected by their respective national governing bodies and provide another avenue for athletes to qualify for World Championships as well as earn valuable points towards Olympic qualification.
The USA Cycling 2019 Pan-American XCO Mountain Bike Championships selection criteria are available here.
Visit USACycling.org for more information on athletes, events and membership programs. Follow @USACycling across all channels for the latest on Team USA.
For more information, please contact Kelly Fox at apalermo@usacycling.org
