Sophomore Earns U.S. Title In Women's Collegiate Cycling

Trying to find the fastest women's collegiate road cyclist in America?

Well, look no further than Mather House.

Mather sophomore Kirsten Berggren last month won the United States Cycling Federation's first ever national women's race by outpedalling 20 other women from across the country.

Berggren, vice president of the Harvard University Cycling Association, won the 30 mile race held October 20 at Penn State University with a time of less than one hour and fifteen minutes.

Anne Benoit, a University of New Hampshire cyclist, came in a close second on the hilly course.

Five cyclists broke ahead of the pack after the first of the race's seven laps but by the completion of the third lap, Berggren and Benoit were all alone at the head of the field.

"Once Anne and I got away from the pack, I started thinking about how I could beat her in the sprint at the end of the course," Berggren said. "The second to last lap I was thinking where to make my move."

The killer "B"s kept widening the gap between themselves and the other races until the last 100 yards when, in an uphill sprint, Berggren outdistanced Benoit by a few lengths.

"When you're racing, when you're riding with someone, if you've managed to break away, it's like you're teammates. You work together a lot," Berggren said. "In the last lap, though, you hate each other. But then after the race, you're friends again. Ann's beaten me twice. Now we're even."

In fact, the championship race was the first Berggren ever won. She has consistently placed in the top 20 percent of races--including several finishes in the pack with Olympic medallists--but she had never placed first.

Berggren felt that the field at Penn State was actually weaker than competition she has faced before. "Usually you see a lot of strong people." Berggren said. "You can tell by the way somebody switches gears how good she is. I knew as soon as I saw the pack that Ann and I would be able to get away.

"Usually I'm intimidated. [At this race] I wasn't."

March Hare

What makes the sophomore's accomplishment all the more impressive is that she didn't start racing competitively until last March.

Berggren spends about three hours a day riding on the Associations' daily bike trips. She plans to continue racing for as long as she can.