Gibson captures her first national title

Incoming Ramona High School senior Gwendalyn Gibson captured her first national title in the USA Cycling XC National Championships at Mammoth Mountain this month.

Also racing in the national competition from Ramona was Mountain Valley Academy Class of 2016 graduate Jaron Cappos, a member of the Cycle Dawgs at Ramona High until his graduation in June.

The lack of oxygen and steep climbs made for a challenging race, but both Ramona racers excelled on the course.

Cappos placed 13th out of 89 riders in the Mammoth mountain bike race, even after not receiving a call up spot, placing him in mid pack on the start line.

“I felt strong and paced myself well throughout the race,” he said. “I’m pretty happy with the outcome. I was able to really push hard and gain positions on the hills thanks to my lightweight Haro FLC.”

Gibson, who started mountain bike racing with the Cycle Dawgs when she was a freshman at Ramona High, raced in the Cat 1 17-18 race and was able to ride away on the second lap, distancing the rest of the field on the way to earning the national championship title and donning the coveted stars and stripes jersey.

“Leading up to the race, I hung out in the TASCO tent, staying off my feet and preparing to race,” she said. “My race wasn’t until 4 o’clock, which meant a lot of waiting, but eventually it was time to warm up and go race. I started behind about 14 other girls, which gave me plenty of room to move up in the pack during the race.

“Soon I found myself in second, and I soon found myself battling with first place. The other racer and I soon put a gap on the rest of the field, and on the second lap I broke away and was able to ride the rest of the race solo to win my first national championship title.”

She took first out of 30 of the fastest girls in the nation, beating second place racer, Haley Batten, the defending nation

al champion, by 2 minutes 40 seconds.

“To win nationals was a dream come true, a big thanks to my sponsors who helped me this season, TASCO, Norco Bicycles, Red Monkey grips, Kappius components, Kenda tire, Sidi Cycling, and White Lightning,” she said. “Also, thank you to my friends and family who supported me this race season.”

This fall in the off season, Gibson will be running cross country for Ramona High School, and Cappos will attending Palomar College full time. Cappos, who took Palomar College classes his last two years in high school, has his sights set on a career in business marketing. He plans to continue mountain bike racing as an amateur.