local riders win Whiteface Uphill Bike Race

click for bigger. more pics here image courtesy albear1947Nice little article in the Lake Placid News about Aaron Fillion and Sue Schlatter's results at the Whiteface Uphill Bike Race on Saturday, June 19. There is an in-depth interview with Aaron, too bad they didn't talk to Sue at all. Here is a excerpt:

Saturday’s fastest male and female cyclists both hailed from Ottawa, as Aaron Fillion and Sue Schlatter again won Whiteface Uphill Bike overall championships. Fillion, a 30-39 men’s age group competitor who was tops at Whiteface in 2008, was the first to cross the finish line this year, breaking the tape in 44:53.75.v

This year marked the third time Fillion has competed in the race, and now he has a pair of victories to go along with a second-place result from his first appearance in the event. Fillion, who specializes more in road racing and pedals between 10,000 and 20,000 kilometers each year, started in the third wave of the day to take the win.

“My goal was to win the overall title, and I thought I did well enough to win, but I didn’t find out until a few hours later,” the 35-year-old Fillion said. “The thing that made me really happy was I made a pretty significant improvement over the last time I did the race. My time wasn’t that much better, but I was much more powerful. The wind was working against us.

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“I wouldn’t call a race like this fun,” Fillion added. “It’s hard to enjoy yourself when you are in constant pain, but it’s a good benchmark to see if you are improving. It’s a pretty simple race. You’re just going uphill as hard as you can. It comes down to who is the strongest rider, and who can sustain their power for longest duration.”

Fillion’s next race will be four days of action in the Tour of Pittsburgh, which takes place over Fourth of July weekend.

Racing in the the 40-49 age group, Schlatter took the women’s title for the second year in a row, finishing in 51:38.52, which was also good enough for an 18th-place overall result.