HEADING into the metaphorical bottom of the ninth inning, with no one on deck and no runs scored, Guam sent to the plate its DH (Derek Horton) for a crack at Olympic glory.
Not wanting to leave London with "eight men out" (pardon the movie reference), Horton, a 39-year-old Tamuning resident, entered with 46 other competitors in the men’s cross-country mountain biking competition late Sunday night in Hadleigh Farm, Essex County, England.
Ranked 424 in the world, Guam’s Horton, the quickly approaching 40-year-old, desiring to win a medal, would have to have had the ride of his life, putting the pedal to the metal.
The race started with 47 riders grouped together at a stagger-start, based upon their world rankings. Horton, paired with several other riders, left the starting blocks in the second to last stagger.
From the race’s onset, the 21-mile (7 laps/3 miles) event proved more than Horton could handle. Although he posted a respectable first split time (1:02/.4km/ranked 42 overall), Horton quickly dropped out of contention, getting lapped by the lead riders (lapped at 7.6km/7:34 behind the leaders), which led to him receiving an automatic DNF (Did Not Finish), resulting in his not being allowed to finish the race.
By race’s end, one other rider received a DNF due to lapping (China’s Weisong Tong lapped at 17.2km/9:32 behind the leaders). The highly technical course, consisting of a brutal climb up Snake Hill, as well as tricky, rock-filled descents, defeated more than seven riders, including back-to-back gold medalist from (Athens/2004, Beijing/2008) France’s Julien Absalon (lap 1 crash/7.6km).
In an exciting finish, one which saw within the last leg several lead changes, the Czech Republic’s Jaroslav Kulhavy (1:29:07) captured the gold medal, beating out Switzerland’s Nino Schurter (1:29:08) by one second. The bronze medalist, Italy’s Marco Aurelio Fontana (1:29:32), due to his saddle and post detaching from his bike, had to finish the last mile of the race standing up.
