Keegan Swenson and Sofía Gómez Villafañe took the men's and women's categories of Crusher in the Tushar, both finishing in record times and stretching out their already strong leading positions in the Life Time Grand Prix series.
They both shed their rivals early in the Utah race with a high-altitude finish at Eagle Point, over 10,000 feet (3,000m). Swenson initially took off with Peter Stetina but when Stetina dropped a chain the 2023 Unbound winner quickly settled in for a long solo effort for the biggest part of the climb heavy 69 mile race (111km).
"Always fun throwing down in the Tushars!," said Keegan Swenson in an Instagram post. "Happy to defend the title today but even more stoked to go sub 4 hours on this beast of a course."
Swenson finished in 3:56:42, more than five-and-a-half minutes faster than his winning time of last year, while the next rider across the line was the chasing Stetina, nearly four minutes back. Matthew Beers took third a little over two minutes later.
Villafañe also delivered a record – knocking more than six minutes off the 2022 winning time of Haley Smith – when she crossed the line in 4:49:43 with an advantage of more than two minutes to Lauren De Crescenzo in second while Flavia Oliveira Parks came third less than a minute back. The 2022 winner, Smith, came over the line in fourth.
Crusher in the Tushar was the third round of the Life Time Grand Prix, where 70 top cyclists compete for a $250,000 prize purse. The first round of the seven-race series was the Fuego XL 100K cross-country MTB race and the second the 200 mile Unbound. Sofia Gomez Villafañe was already at the top of the leaderboard before Crusher in the Tushar, having come first at Fuego and second in Unbound behind Carolin Schiff, who is not part of the series.
After the wins in Utah, on the course which took on the same brutal climb from two directions, Villafañe now has 105 points in the series, with her closest rivals being Sarah Sturm – who finished sixth at Crusher in the Tushar – and Smith who are both on 96 points.
In the men's category Swenson also has taken the top points available after winning all three of the races in the series so far. He sits on 105 points with Russell Finsterwald in second on 92 after he finished eleventh at Eagle Point. Lachlan Morton is third in the series on 88 points after coming fourth at Crusher in the Tushar.
The fourth race is the Leadville Trail 100 MTB on August 12, then it is the Chequamegon MTB Festival on September 16, The Rad Dirt Fest on September 30 leading into a Big Sugar Gravel finale on October 21.
