It was another victory for one of Michigan’s top mountain cyclists on Saturday, as Jorden Wakeley won the Mountain Goat Mash presented by By George Brewing at Valley Spur on Saturday, Sept. 9. It was Wakeley’s third straight Mountain Goat Mash title.
The downstate native beat out second place Robert Richardson by over 10 minutes to win the title, but the race for second was tight. Richardson edged out Rob Martin by just 11.3 seconds for the higher podium position.
In the womens long race, Heather Compton led throughout, finishing the course with a time of 4:06:33.9, which was more than 17 minutes faster than second place Alisha Johansson. Compton is also a defending champion of the race.
“We kind of make jokes with these two individuals that we’re going to make it harder for them. They brought different bikes this year, but they both did such a great job,”Zach Eckert, race director of the Mountain Goat Mash.
Wakeley is one of the best competitive mountain bikers in the state, adding this championship to his Ore 2 Shore victory in Marquette last month.
The short race saw a more competitive event, with Sky Page taking the win in 1:10:39.2. Liz Richey was six minutes behind for second and Johngela Miller took third with a 1:28:04. On the men’s side, Jeff Phillips took the largest race of the day with a time of 1:03:44. Karsten Richey kept him honest throughout the race, finishing less than a minute behind in second place. It was the closest gap between two podium finishers in any division on the day. Kirk Harger, the top-placing local racer, took third with a time of 1:07:06.
According to Eckert, the event went smoothly.
“It went really well. Didn’t have as large of a turnout the last couple years, but we had a lot of registrations the week of the event and a lot more locals participating. Most of the people came from downstate, but we had a lot of people from Marquette, Munising and Escanaba joining us today and it was a lot of fun seeing so many local faces,” he said.
The event is held annually through the Munising Bay Trail Network, who operate and maintain a number of the local bike trails. With Munising’s increased reputation as a mountain biking destination, it can be beneficial to have a signature race like the Mountain Goat Mash, Eckert said, especially when the feedback is coming from both locals and big-named competitors.
“It means a lot for our bike club. To hear that something we’ve poured a ton of work into and get all that feedback is great,” he said. “It’s been a community effort to get us here today, so a lot of work leading up to this, but it feels great with everyone doing great.”
Work will start soon on next year’s race, with the MBTN looking to “keep things fresh”. According to Eckert, a running race might be added along with other small tweaks to keep the race fun and competitive.
