By Jared Eborn
At this rate, Park City’s Clouse family will need to build a new wing just to hang up all the stars and stripes jerseys 13-year-old Katie is bringing home.
Adding to her already impressive collection of national championships, Katie Clouse was one of three Utahns to claim victory at the USA Cycling Cyclocross championships in Boulder last month,
Clouse, riding for Canyon Bicycles/Shimano, dominated the Junior 13-14 field and served notice to anyone who hadn’t already memorized her name that the future of women’s cycling in the USA is not too far away.
Other Utahns to claim victory in Boulder were Ogden’s Justin Lindine riding for Team Redline in the Master’s 30-34 field and Ski Utah’s Laura Howat in the Master’s 55-59 division.
Lew Rollins placed third in the Masters 65-69 field.
Evan Clouse showed his family’s cycling skills are far from limited to Katie, placed sixth in the Junior 15-16 division. His Canyon Bicycles-Shimano teammate Melinda McCutcheon continued her strong season with a solid fourth-place finish in the Master’s 30-34 race.
The men’s Pro/1/2 race had heavy Utah representation. The race, won by Massachusetts’ Jeremy Powers, saw Park City’s Jamie Driscoll placed fourth for Raleigh Clement. Defending champ Jonathon Page, who calls Kamas his off-season home, placed sixth and Lindine followed up his Masters 30-34 win with an eighth-place showing in the Pro/1/2 division.
But it was Clouse who caught the lion’s share of attention after her overpowering performance – she even placed second in an open non-classified race used by many riders with twice as many years on and off the bike as Clouse as a training race.
Cyclocross Magazine, 303cycling.com and plenty of other cycling media took note of the youngster’s strength and proclaimed Clouse one of the rising stars of the sport.
Typcially racing against older competition during races in Utah, Clouse is used to longer efforts. With only 20 minutes on the clock for the Junior 13-14 races, Clouse unleashed her power from the gun and never let up – pulling away for a convincing margin of victory of more than a minute in front of second place finisher Turner Ramsay of Vermont.
“We’ve raced here a couple times this year and it’s just a really fun course,” Clouse told 303cycling.com. “I’m not really that good in the wind but I have a lot of power so I can power through it.”
