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September 3, 2012

Youth shines at 19th annual tour

By Lisa Byers Meadville Tribune

WEST MEAD TOWNSHIP — As the Elite and Intermediate groups readied for the start of the 19th annual Tour de Tamarack co-director Nina Bell asked the participants to take it easy out of the gate and begin their sprint at the top of the first hill.

Ten minutes later, she looked at the large pack about to undertake the 20-mile Citizen’s race and said, “You guys can sprint right from the get-go.”

“Yeah!” many of the cyclists exclaimed.

“No. No,” Bell responded.

“I heard her, she said it,” one cyclist said.

“Double digits up the hill,” another proclaimed.

All 13-year-old Adam Parrish could do was smile. Parrish, who was settled at the lead of the pack awaiting the horn, was enjoying the light conversation amongst his older competitors as he prepared for his second Tour de Tamarack. He was initially, anyhow. Soon he became the subject of that discussion.

“We have four kinds under 15 in this race. They’re free game,” Bell said jokingly.

“You can drop them, but they can’t drop you,” someone from the crowd yelled. “They’re too small.”

Parrish just looked straight ahead.

They may be small. But the young guns are proving to be quite the competition at the annual bike race, which is split into three divisions ranging from 20 miles to 40. Parrish is one of them.

The Pittsburgh resident and Team Citius Cycling rider finished 28th overall on Sunday with a time of 59.07. A year ago, he placed 36th in the Citizen’s race with a time of 1:08.22; and was one of two 12-year-olds to finish in the top 40 of the 79-person field.

“I was trying to break an hour,” said Parrish, who is a triathlete and belongs to a swim team and running team back in Pittsburgh as well.

There were a total of seven riders in the Citizen’s Race under the age of 20. Rick Holzworth, 27, of Pittsburgh won the race in 55 minutes, 15 seconds. The top finisher under 20 was James Miller, 19, of West Elizabeth. He finished seventh in 55:44.

The Intermediate Race was won by 18-year-old Chaz Ormond of Frewsburg, N.Y., a member of Team Hollyloft, in his first Tour de Tamarack. Ormond finished with a time of 1:22:23.

Ormonz stayed in a pack with his teammates for much of the race, but broke away at the final hill prime to take the tape first.

“I’ve been (racing) for a long time,” Ormonz said. “But this is the first time I’ve raced here. I came down and watched last year.”

“It was fun when I started,” Ormonz said of why he took up cycling. “It’s still fun, but I wouldn’t necessarily use that word. Now it’s more rewarding. It’s a lot of work and I gave up a lot to do it.”

Parrish agreed noting that not too many kids his age would give up an opportunity to sleep in on a Sunday morning to race a bicycle 20 miles.

In the Elite Race, Team GPOA out of Pittsburgh and Team Hollyloft out of Jamestown, N.Y. dominated. Stephen Cummings took the 40-mile race with a time of 1:45:18.

Jim Doan, 52, of Reynoldsville, just missed giving Team Hollyloft a sweep of the 30- and 40-mile races with a second place finish in 1:45:19. GPOA’s Steven Kurpiewski and Jake Lifson were third and fourth, respectively. Bob Dahl placed fifth and Eric Przepierski sixth for Hollyloft.

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