Dave McLaughlin's Story, 1985
Dave McLaughlin here. I was second to Gavin Chilcott
in the 1985
version of Cat's Hill. So anyway, I was checking
out the website and
noticed the 1981 winner slot is left blank, so here
it is - Dave
Zanotti of the San Jose bike club won that year in
a long solo break.
Don't know where to find him but last I head he was
around San Jose
somewhere.
A couple other things - You have Fred Markham errantly
listed as the
'85 winner when it was, in fact, Gavin Chilcott. In
another area you
have Gavin listed as the '84 winner, who was actually
Sterling McBride. (editor's note: we have since changed the list to reflect Dave's recollection and we hope Gavin will write in to verify this.)
Here's my story of the 1985 race if it is interesting
to anyone...
Riding in the group and went for a cash prime with
about 22 laps to go
and next thing I know I'm off the front alone so I'm
like damn, I guess
I gotta stay on it. So here I am, out front all alone
for like 18 laps
and all of a sudden my 45 second gap was down to about
10 seconds with
three to go. Gavin Chilcott was my teammate at the
time and, being the
tough guy that he is, bridged the gap to me by riding
up the hill in
his big ring. As he got to me it was all I could do
to stay on his
wheel and we quickly opened the gap between us and
the main group. I
had recovered in time for the sprint but unfortunately
let Gavin jump
first and he just barely beat me at the line. I guess
it was pretty
close because it took the officials about 30 minutes
to call the
winner. This finish was bittersweet for me because
I had been away solo
for so long and really wanted to win, but in the other
hand if Gavin
hadn't come to get me I would have been swallowed up
by the entire
group.
Anyway, Cat's Hill has always been a favorite and it's
good to see the
race still going strong.
Hope this helps.
Dave McLaughlin
May, 2005
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