Bix legend Joan Samuelson welcomes women's masters to finish line at Brady Street Challenge. Davenport duo Kathy Evanchyk (gold) and Mary Toohill lean for the win.
The 11th Brady Street Challenge kicked off the 37th Quad City Times Bix 7 weekend here in Davenport, Iowa last night. Seven races in all made their way up the 7% – 9% grade which constitutes the opening segment of the Bix 7 Road Race tomorrow morning. It’s a quarter-mile grind with champions earning $500 for the torture. Makes you appreciate the 10%+ grades the cyclists of the Tour de France must climb. But those guys use expensive geared machines. These folks have only their legs and the drive of their arms to propel them.
The Davenport air was all but liquid last evening, not in the sense of rain, but in terms of humidity. As if the brutality of the hill wasn’t enough, the weight of the heated air itself added an even greater challenge.
Best race of the night was the first one, as three-time former women’s master’s
champion Kathy Evanchyk of Davenport inched past 2008 champ Mary Toohill by just .47 seconds in 1:29.69. Continue reading
