The very focused riders who are the core of the Ultracycling Cup Competition gather at the Sebring 12- and 24-hour races every February. Would anyone at the 2007 Sebring have predicted that, after years of dominance by John Jurczynski and Nancy Guth, we would have new overall champions? And that new winners would take over these categories: Males, 25-49, 50-59 and Females, 25-49, 50-59. Even if we had guessed there would be a change in leadership in 2007, we probably would not have picked these racers, none of whom were multi-year veterans!

Larry Ide	won the men's overall with 214.19 points. Ide's first year in the UCC was 2006 when he finished 15th overall.
Joel Sothern	was second overall with 208.51 performance points and won the males 50-59 division. This was Sothern's first year in the Ultracup!
Nicole Honda	was the top woman overall with 124.92 points, racing for the first time in the Ultracup.
Linda Bott	won the women's 50-59 division and took second overall among the women. She earned 115.58 points in her second year of competing in the Ultracup.

Larry Ide, 49, from Monmouth, IL is obviously a very strong racer and this season he paced himself through seven races worth one or two difficulty points, with consistently strong finishes in each event. Ide then raced the Tejas 500 as his final race. To be eligible for the overall championship a racer must finish an event worth at least three DP — the Tejas 500 was Ide's three-point event. Ide couldn't falter at Tejas. Joe Sothern, 50, from Laguna Niguel, CA had been very close to Ide all year. Sothern had registered for the Furnace Creek 508 the weekend after Tejas. Ide took second at Tejas, earning 45.5 performance points. Then he had to wait to see how Sothern raced. Sothern took third at the 508 earning 48.8 performance points.

Ide finished first overall in the Ultracup with 214.19 performance points. Sothern, 50, was second with 208.51 points. This is the first time that the two men earned more than 200 points and the first time that a 50-year old rider earned more than 200 points.

Bryce Walsh, 36, from Chicago, IL took third with 179.71 performance points. Paul Carpenter, 48, from Batavia, IL won the Tejas 500 — without a crew! — and finished less than five points behind Walsh (175.13 points).

This was the closest finish since 2004 when John Jurczynski won with 185.80 points, John Guth took second with 180.41 points and Jim Trout came in third with 174.98 points.

Jurczynski decided to race RAAM this year and finished as a rookie, always quite an accomplishment. Jurczynski still finished second in the age 50-59 division even though he only rode two other races in addition to RAAM and also earned Ultracup points with a Vermont N-S-N record.

Nancy Guth won the women's overall championship with 161.13 points in 2002, her first year competing in the UCC. Each year since then Guth earned 155 or more points until 2007. This year the Guths made Paris-Brest-Paris their priority and focused on that. She and her husband, John, competed in only four events compared to seven races last year. As a result, she was the fourth woman overall. Guth is a grandmother and loves it! Further, she has been quite active as the UMCA's Secretary to the Board. All of this takes time away from traveling and racing.

Nicole Honda, 41, from San Mateo, CA was the top woman overall with 124.92 points. Honda raced in four Ultracup races and also set the two-woman team record in RAAM. Linda Bott, 50, from Ventura, CA won the women's 50-59 division and took second overall among the women. Bott raced six double centuries and then completed P-B-P to earn a total of 115.58 points. The third woman was Kitty Goursolle, 52, from San Ramon, CA. She rode five doubles and P-B-P to earn 112.04 total points.

John Schlitter, 51, from St Petersburg, FL dominated the recumbents. He started his season at Sebring and kept racing through the Tejas 500, earning 206.90 total points. In addition to his eight Ultracup races he also competed on a record-setting two-man recumbent team in RAAM!

Larry Graham, 49, from Westerville, OH was the top 'bent rider in the 25-49 division with 165.36 performance points. Chris Kaiser, 43, from McDonough, GA took second with 106.81 points.

The fastest rider in the entire Ultracycling cup was Dennis Grelk, 28, from Donnellson, IA. He amassed 130.90 performance points racing in his yellow Human Powered Vehicle. What is an HPV? It's a recumbent with any sort of fairing designed to reduce air resistance.

The Ultracup is all about racing and riders in every age group are there to compete. Dick Rupp, 64, Angola, IN dominated the men's 60-69 division with 151.93 points, and also raced four-man RAAM and set four four-man cross-state records! Rupp was the fifth man overall in the Ultracup!

Lew Meyer isn't slowing down much, either. Racing in the men's 70-79 division he earned 99.31 points, hard points that included the Fireweed 400 and P-B-P. Meyer and Chris Stauffer will be racing Team RAAM next year — they are looking for a couple of fast 75+ racers to join them!

Pauline Lundgren, 63, from Omaha, NE focused on just two late season races: the Ultra Midwest 12-hour and the Texas 24-hour. She raced well in both events and earned her age 60-69 champions plaque.

12- and 24-Hour Races In the 12- and 24-hour divisions riders are ranked by their best 24-hour (or 12-hour) race. We established these divisions to allow riders with less time and/or money to specialize and be competitive.

Many of the top riders build their seasons around 12- and 24-hour races. Larry Ide, the men's overall Ultracup champion, raced Calvin's and three 24s: National 24, Saratoga and Ultra Midwest. He captured the 24-hour title with 1356.7 miles.

Joel Sothern who won the Men's 50+ points category raced the Davis 12-hour and then five 24s: Sebring, National 24, Saratoga, UK and Ultra Midwest. Sothern was the top age 50+ racer and second overall with 1298.6.

Paul Carpenter raced the National, Saratoga and Ultra Midwest doubles and was third overall with 1265.9 miles.

Larry Graham raced 1227.6 miles on his recumbent to win that category and take fourth overall.

Richard Rupp rode three 24s, all of them fast, totaling 1134.8 miles.

Although she finished third in the Women's 50-59 points category, Nancy Guth took first in the women's 50-59 24-hour category.

In the 12-hour categories John Schlitter raced three 12s including the tough Ring of Fire and was the top 12-hour rider in his recumbent with 683 miles in three races. Chris Hopkinson was the top 12-hour racer on a conventional bike with 687.8 miles. Ellen Bone was the third 12-hour racer overall with 540 miles earned in the Sebring, Calvin's and Hudson River 12s.

Overall, this was one of the most competitive seasons in the history of the Ultracycling Cup Competition. Larry Ide and Joel Sothern raced consistently well all season — they had to. Neither could afford a poor performance, which would cede the lead to the other racer. Bryce Walsh and Paul Carpenter also rode very well and were always ready to fight for the lead.

The Ultracycling Cup is designed with a limited number of events so that racers compete directly against each other and the top men did just that:

The women were equally competitive. Nicole Honda captured the overall title with Linda Bott, Kitty Goursolle and Nancy Guth not far behind. All four women rode P-B-P with Guth finishing first in 82 hours, then Goursolle (86:40), Honda (87:00) and Bott (90:00). Honda took first because she chose to ride two 24s: Sebring (356.6 miles) and Davis (354.5 miles) as training for team RAAM and then ended the season with the Furnace Creek 508. In addition to P-B-P, Bott and Goursolle rode the tough California doubles and couldn't earn quite as many points as Honda. Guth, as always, was very competitive in every event — she just didn't ride as many events as the other women.

What will the 2008 season be like? Based on 2007 next year will be highly competitive. Will the 2007 winners dominate again? Will Jurczynski and Guth come back to contest for the top spots? Or will new riders capture the lead positions?

This season demonstrates that the racing in wide open — veteran UCC riders and new racers can challenge every category using a combination of racing fitness, tactical savvy in races and a season-long strategy. The Sebring races in February will again start the season. See you there!