Gravel Race: Hills of High-Tor Wraps Up 2019 Durty Bikes Gravel Series

Upstate New York’s Durty Bikes Gravel Series wrapped up over the weekend at the Hills of High-Tor race outside Naples. With the race representing the rubber match of the three-race series, both race and series titles were on the line.

This year’s Hills of High-Tor was 39 miles long with an opening climb up Lower Road and then a descent to the finish in Naples.

Coming into Saturday’s race after the Ossian Giant Gravel Grinder and Prattsburgh Gravel Classic there were tight battles in both the Women and Men’s series. The Hills of High-Tor would decide the series overall.

In the Elite Women’s field, Ruth Sherman (GGWDW) led Anne August (Park Ave Bike) by just two points, and for the Elite Men, Anthony Clark (🦑) and Curtis White (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld) were tied.

Elite Women

In the first two races of the Durty Bikes series, Sherman proved to be Upstate New York’s “Eternal Second,” coming in the second spot in both races.

Sherman finally got that win, winning a nailbiter against August. Sherman also took the KOM to also give her the series win.

“Ruth and Anne put on a great showing,” said series director Tony Sylor. “Ruth has won so many of these events over the years and continues to be the standard bearer for women’s gravel racing in our area.”

Third-place finisher Anya Bogdanets (Just Ride p/b Buffalo Hardwood) was back to more manageable distances after doing the Iowa Wind and Rock ultra-endurance race a few weekends ago.

Emily Flynn (Mello Velo Racing / Nicollet Bike Team) wrapped up third in the series.

“These ladies battled every week,” said Sylor. “It was great to see different winners with a mix of women who have competed and won for several years alongside new talent. The future is bright for women’s grave racing in western New York.”

Race and series results are below.

Elite Men

In the first two races of the Durty Bikes Series, White edged his cyclocross rival Clark at the line. Clark scored more points on the KOM climbs, however, pulling the two even headed into the Hills of High-Tor.

It was again the two ’cross stars at the front attacking each other on the hilly and technical course. Like Sherman, Clark finally got over the top to take the win, not leaving anything to chance with a gap of over 2 minutes.

White finished second and 16-year-old Trevor August (Park Ave Bike) finished third.

“Trevor is so fun to watch,” said Sylor. “He is really talented and comes from a wonderful cycling family. His younger brother won the overall for the Intermediate Series, his mother was second in the women’s race and his dad put on a great event. This is the first year we have worked together, and I hope we have many more ahead.”

White took the five points for the KOM at the Hills of High-Tor to give him the series win by a point. Clark took second and Kevan Edwards (Mello Velo Racing) third.

Results for the race and series are below.

Elite Women's Results: 2019 Hills of HighTor

Place	Name	Team	Time
1	Ruth Sherman	GGWDW	2:33:55
2	Anne August	Park Ave Bike	2:33:56
3	Anya Bobdanets	Just Ride p/b Buffalo Hardwood	2:37:30
4	Bonnie Symes	Campus WheelWorks	2:44:19
5	Rachel Andrews	Once Again Racing	2:44:20
6	Michele Maier	Cork Monkey Racing	2:46:56
7	Emily Flynn	Mello Velo Racing	2:55:18

Elite Men's Results: 2019 Hills of HighTor

Place	First	Last	Team	Time
1	Anthony	Clark	Squid Squad	2:03:51
2	Curtis	White	Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld	2:06:06
3	Trevor	August	Park Ave Bike p/b Borah Teamwear	2:17:40
4	Jake	Castor	Once Again Racing	2:19:01
5	Marcus	Cox	Once Again Racing	2:22:00
6	Bill	Pjontek	No. 22 CX Team	2:24:08
7	Kevan	Edwards	Mello Velo Racing	2:26:19
8	Jason	Hettenbaugh	Park Ave Bike p/b Borah Teamwear	2:26:22
9	Timothy	Paul	Once Again Racing	2:29:05
10	Jonathan	Siuta	Buffalo Bicycling Club	2:30:12
11	David	Yacobelli	CNYC / NYCM Insurance	2:29:05
12	Ryan	Henderson		2:33:01
13	Nathan	Yost	Tom’s Pro Bike	2:34:54
14	Philip	Weigel	J Mac Cycling	2:43:36
15	Andrew	Kless	Unversity of Rochester Cycling	2:44:16
16	Ryan	Seal	DAY OF	2:49:30
DNS	Dao	Timmerman	Once Again Racing
DNS	Matt	Timmerman	Cannondale
DNS	Mike	Jones	Team Skyline
DNS	Gene	Henry
DNS	Christopher	Battles	Mello Velo Racing
DNS	Owen	August
DNS	Sean	Meyer	Once Again Racing

2019 Durty Bikes Series Women's Standings

Name	Ossian	Prattsburgh	Hills of High-Tor	OVERALL
Ruth Sherman	99	104	105	308
Anne August	101	100	102	303
Emily Flynn	96	99	0	195
Anya Bogdanets	98	89	99	286
Rachel Andrews	105	0	96	201
Olivia Lapham	95	100	0	195
Michele Maier	0	96	95	191
Bonnie R Symes	0	0	97	97

2019 Durty Bikes Series Men's Standings

Name	Ossian Points	Prattsburgh	Hills of High-Tor	OVERALL
Curtis White	101	103	104	308
Anthony Clark	104	100	103	307
Kevan Edwards	96	97	95	288
Marcus Cox	91	94	96	281
Timothy Paul	90	93	92	275
David Yacobelli	85	92	90	267
Nathan Yost	79	91	88	258
Jeremy Powers	97	103	0	200
Trevor August	0	96	98	194
Jake Castor	0	88	97	185
Matt Timmerman	89	95	0	184
Ryan Henderson	84	0	89	173
Philip Weigel	76	90	0	166
Mike Jones	101	0	0	101
Bill Pjontek	0	0	95	95
Philip Maynard	95	0	0	95
Ryan Popple	94	0		94
Christian Norvold	93	0	0	93
Jason Hettenbaugh	0	0	89	93
Doug Rusho	92	0	0	92
Jonathan Siuta	0	0	0	91
Stuart Wolsh	0	89	95	89
Sean Meyer	88	0	0	88
Erik Braun	0	87	0	87
Sean Crandell	87	0	0	87
Ryan Jean	0	86	0	86
Shane Montgomery	86	0	0	86
Ryan Seal	83	0	0	83
Ethan Carney	82	0	0	82
Mark Walters	81	0	0	81
Zachary Kropp	80	0	0	80
Glen Wallace	78	0	0	78
Andrew Kless	77	0	0	77
Gene Henry	75	0	0	75