PINKHAM NOTCH – A Massachusetts man and a Pennsylvania woman won the grueling bicycle race up Mount Washington, the highest peak in the northeastern United States.
Erik Levinsohn, of Boston, and Stefanie Sydlik, 34, of Pittsburgh, beat the competition in the men’s and women’s divisions of the 7.6-mile (12-kilometer) Mount Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb to the summit at 6,288 feet (1,915 meters) Saturday.
“I’ve wanted to win this race so badly,” Levinsohn said as he recovered from the climb while sitting on one of the summit’s multitudinous granite boulders. “I never thought I had it today. There was zero visibility at the top, and Drake (Deuel) is so strong I kept expecting him to come by.”
Sydlik, 34, a three-time Hillclimb runner-up (2013, 2017, 2018), led the women’s field from the start and rode unchallenged to the top of the highest peak in the Northeast, ascending the all-uphill Auto Road in 1 hour, 10 minutes and 34 seconds.
Andover native Gabriela Zimbron was the top New Hampshire finisher. The 23-year-old placed seventh overall in the women’s division in 1 hour, 26 minutes and 28 seconds. Nathan Kenison-Marvin, of Tuftonboro, was the top male finisher from the Granite State after racing to seventh overall at 1:00:48.
Other locals in action included three Concord natives in Mark Girardin (252nd overall, 1:52:00) John Bellerose (258th, 1:54:03) and David Woolf (213th, 1:41:19). As well as Contoocook’s Irvin Gordon (317th, 2:14:35), Dunbarton’s Sean Snow (57th, 1:15:24) and Henniker’s Tim Buckley (136th, 1:29:41).
Riders deal with a steep grade that averages 12% and rises to 22% at the finish, as well as Mt. Washington’s unpredictable weather.
Levinsohn, 29, had finished second and third in his two previous races in 2013 and 2018. He crossed the finish line in 53 minutes and 42 seconds Saturday, after breaking away from the lead pack in the second mile.
Levinsohn and Sydlik each won $1,500.
For the men, Deuel, 21, of Arlington, Mass., finished second in 54 minutes and 28 seconds while David Talbot, 30, of New Canaan, Conn., placed third at 57 minutes and 4 seconds.
In the women’s division, Sydlik was followed by Lane Marden, 33, of Somerville, Mass., who came in second at 1 hour, 16 minutes and 31 seconds; and Gabrielle Vandendries, 20, of Chestnut Hill, Mass., who finished third at 1 hour, 22 minutes and 29 seconds.
The race raises money for the Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Albany, which provides environmental and recreational education.