Course Records Set at the Crusher in the Tushar by Gómez Villafañe and Swenson

600 riders tackle 10,400 ft of climbing over 69.9-mile course; Gómez Villafañe and Swenson continue to lead the Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda overall

BEAVER, Utah, (July 8, 2023) — Sofía Gómez Villafañe and Keegan Swenson won and set course records at the Crusher in the Tushar presented by The Creamery, which welcomed a field of approximately 600 riders representing 37 states and eight countries to Utah’s Tushar Mountains outside of Beaver, Utah on Saturday.

The event features a 60/40 split of gravel to tarmac and brings riders to explore the stunning backcountry of Utah’s little-known Tushar Mountains and Fishlake National Forest. Racers tackled 10,400’ of climbing over 69 miles on the Crusher course, which serves as one of the most challenging gravel races in the world and the only one with a true mountain top finish.

With the women’s mass starting five minutes before the pro men start the leaders all hit the dirt together at mile ten. From there in the men’s race Swenson took a dominant lead with Peter Stetina not far behind despite a dropped chain early on. Matt Beers worked hard to stay with the leaders and was on Stetina’s wheel for most of the race. In the end, the dominant Keegan Swenson takes his second consecutive win, setting a course record with a time of 3:56:42 in the process. 

When the women hit the dirt, Sofía Gómez Villafañe put down the hammer and was leading by two minutes over the Col ahead of Lauren De Crescenzo. Going up the switchbacks of the Col ‘de Crush Gómez Villafañe led De Crescenzo and Flavia Oliveira Parks by over five minutes. The lead group of women were all close throughout the day powering through hot conditions and steep climbs. Sofía Gómez Villafañe set a course record with a time of 4:49:43.

“The weather was amazing; this has to be the best year we’ve had weather wise. I could tell from the get-go that a course record would be set today, based on how fast the men started off the line and it was exciting to hear that both Keegan and Sofía took down the previous records. The depth of the field is heads and tails better than it’s ever been and that’s really cool to see,” said Burke Swindlehurst, Race Founder. “I had the honor of riding this year, and I finally got to reap what I’ve sown. I kept thinking ‘I’ve had this coming.’”

Women’s Race Results

 Men’s Race Results

Non-Binary Race Results

Full race results can be found here.