33rd An n u a l Ute C u p
S an Is a b e l N a ti o n a l Fo res t
By S HA N M OORE /
TRI AL S C OMPET IT IO N NEWSPAPER
SAN ISABEL, CO, AUG, 16·17
eoff Aaron continued his do mina t ion of th e U .S. t ri a ls scene by
clai ming his fi rst-e ver Ut e Cu p title at
the San Isa bel National Fo rest OH V
area in the Ro ck y Mou ntains. A aron
was perfect in co mpetition, clea ni ng
e very sect ion of the c o urse t ha t
wo un d its way up to an ele vat io n of
I 1,200 fee t and , in d o ing so , added
his nam e to th e unique trav eling cup
that already bears th e na mes of such
l egendary tr i a l s great s as Sammy
M iller, Scott Head , Curt Comer and
Mark Manniko, just to na me a few .
" T h is is on e of those events tha t
I' ve tried a co u ple of ti m es but have
never wo n it , so I'm j ust happy to wi n
it," A aron said . "It's suc h a long eve nt
tha t yo u have to be ca reful not to lo se
foc us . It t akes a lot of c onc entrati o n
and a little bit of luc k ."
The tri als gods provided the luck,
while Aaron chipped in the co ncen tratio n as t h e ERE /G as G as p il o t
ca rded 80 clean ri d es ove r the 80 m il e , two -day eve nt, which included
two " b o n u s sections" des igned to
make the ev ent more chall eng ing for
the top riders wh ile still being man, agea ble for the cl ub rider. And while
.........\ luck is indeed a factor , anot her
ing redient necessary to do we ll at
G
(Far le ft) Geoff Aaron w on his fi rst Ute
Cu p trial s in Co lorado.
----.~
(Left) Ryon Bell fi nishe d
only two po ints
be hin d Aaron
fo r secon d
pla c e.
Geoff Aaron jo i n s
a n elite club w i t h
ute Cup wi
hi
38
S EPTEM BER 3 , 2003 ·
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