SEATTLE, Washington - The 2003 NORBA 24 Hour National Championship saw many great endurance rides over the Memorial Day weekend. With temperatures in the 90’s on Saturday riders were relieved to feel it cool off considerably by Sunday morning for the remainder of the race.

The men's solo winner, Chris Eatough (Baldwin, MD-Trek/VW) and women's solo winner, Christina Begy (Denver, Colo.- Spot Brand), both led their races throughout the entire event. Eatough completed 21 laps of the 14-mile circuit in 24:01:04 while Begy chalked up 17 laps in 24:02:02.

Nat Ross (Breckenridge, Colo) kept the men’s solo winner Eatough close, posting 21 laps in 24:28:44.4 to capture second place.  Jonathan Kindig (Lexington, KY) grabbed the third podium spot with 21 laps completed in 25:10:08.

Four solo women competitors toed the line to compete for National Champs honors in Washington. Begy would take the title with Simone Otto of Boise, Idaho taking second in 24:02:03 with 16 laps logged. Martha Handford (Hillsboro, OR) completed 14 laps in 24:12:11 to claim third-place while Angela Rose-Lane (Medford, OR) took fourth with 11 laps completed in 25:22:58.

In the 4-person elite men’s category Team Clif Bar of Seattle, Wash.(Jason Jalonski, Eric Atwood, Erik Tonkin, and Russell Stevenson) stole the show completing 30 laps in 21:42:10.  Team Starbucks Doubleshot (Chuck Little, Paul Scanlan,Josie Beggs, and Jerry Cutright), also from Seattle, took second-place completing 22 laps in 24:05:46. The Bike Barn Beer Hunters (Kelly Gilchrist, Alex Storie, Greg Malpass, and Aaron Grant) took the bronze with 20 laps completed in 24:00:15.

Five person all female jersey winners included the Team DirtWorld riders of Lynna Lies, Krisha Kerr, Cheryl Peacock, Hidi Mickelson-Cramer, and Noelle Riach.  The five-woman team posted 13 laps in 24:05:37.

The four person 30 category saw the Starbucks Coffee team of Seattle, Wash. take the national championship title.  Michael Pruitt, Michael Emde, Matthew Hill, and Andrew McDirmid rode 27 laps in 24:56:03.  Second-place went to the Specialized Hawaiian Shirt Mafia (Dan Norton, Dave Castonguay, Randy Daniels, and Paul Thomas) of Ronald, Wash. logging 26 laps in 24:28:22.

Rad Racing NW of Tacoma, Wash. took home the 5 person junior under 18 category with a ride of 27 laps in 24:07:39.  Second-place honors went to Machine Head Racing Team (Bruce Szember, Alex Lord Flynn, Adrian Arnot, Dustin Van Duin, Wyeth Larson, and Gerritt Shipley) of Spokane, Wash. clocking in at 24:00:27 with 21 laps.