Jill and Logan take home the goldie looking medals while Aaron Gwin has an uncharacteristic crash.

Here’s the news from the 2011 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Gravity National Championships Sunday in Beech Mountain, N.C.

Jill Kintner and Bryn Atkinson have done a great post race interview video, check it out below.

Men – Pro

1. Logan Binggeli (Saint George, UT/KHS Bicycles) 02:44.7
2. Aaron Gwin (Temecula, CA/Trek World Racing) 02:48.3
3. Mitch Ropelato (Ogden, UT/SPS North America) 02:48.6
4. Duncan Riffle (Santa Barbara, CA/Giant Mountain Bike Team) 02:50.4
5. Phillip Kmetz (Keene, NH) 02:50.8

Women – Pro

1. Jill Kintner (Seattle, WA/RedBull/ Transition Racing) 03:27.5
2. Jacqueline Harmony (Sedona, AZ) 03:29.8
3. Jaime Rees (Spokane, WA/The Bike Hub) 03:51.7
4. Rebecca Gardner (Marlboro, NY) 03:52.5
5. Anne Galyean (Gaithersburg, MD) 04:09.2

Full results over on www.usacycling.org/results

http://vimeo.com/29624151

2011 USA National Downhill Championship from BrynAtkinson on Vimeo.

Here’s the race report courtesy of www.usacycling.org

The 2011 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Gravity National Championships concluded Sunday in Beech Mountain, N.C. with the downhill national championships. An overnight downpour was slow to clear, leaving the course muddy. The dampened course didn’t affect the spirit of the fans as an outstanding crowd, including an estimated 300 spectators in the rock garden, energized the riders.

Logan Binggeli (Saint George, Utah/KHS Bicycles) descended into a Stars-and-Stripes jersey, beating Aaron Gwin (Temecula, CA/Trek World Racing) by nearly four seconds in the men’s pro downhill. Mitch Ropelato (Ogden, UT/SPS North America), who topped the men’s pro dual slalom podium Saturday, earned the bronze medal.

Soraya Khalje won the women’s 30-39 downhill competition on the final day of the 2011 USA Cycling Mountain Bike Gravity National Championships in Beech Mountain, N.C.”It means everything. Everything has now paid off since I’ve gotten on a bicycle.” Binggeli said of winning his first national title. “It’s a dream come true. Titles is what you train for and to finally have one… I’m super pumped.”

Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash./RedBull-Transition Racing) continued her strong riding by winning her second national title in as many tries during the event. In fact, Kintner, who won the women’s pro dual slalom competition on Saturday, qualified in the top position in both the dual slalom and downhill events before earning the gold medal in each. Kintner won by 2.35 seconds over silver-medalist Jacqueline Harmony (Sedona, Ariz.) while Jaime Rees (Spokane, Wash./The Bike Hub) earned the bronze.

Neko Mulally (Reading, Pa./Trek World Racing) earned the win in the junior men’s 17-18 competition, finishing 11 seconds faster than second-place Austin Warren (Alpine, Calif.). Neko’s younger brother, Logan Mulally (Reading, Pa.), earned the gold medal among junior men 15-16, completing the course almost eight seconds faster than silver-medalist Damon Morin (Dunbarton, N.H.).

Earning his second Stars-and-Stripes jersey of the event was 10-year-old Joseph Foresta (South Jordan, Utah), who won Saturday’s dual slalom competition. Armen Davis (Longmont, Colo.) descended in 3:59.4 to earn the junior men’s 11-12 competition while Ben Bodycoat (Burlington, Conn.) earned a nine-second win among men 13-14. Chris Patton (Bethel, Conn.) narrowly edged Corey McMahon (North Conway, N.H.) to win the men’s 19-24 while David Medina (Cumming, Ga.) barely beat Erik Hatch (Reno, Nev.) to win the men’s 25-29 competition. Allen Bercume (Spencer, Mass.) won by 17.5 seconds to win the men’s 30-34 race as Jeremy Fahey (Owego, N.Y.) registered the win in the men’s 35-39 contest. Todd Cholevik (Tallahassee, Fla.) won the men’s 40-44 race. G. John Leslie (Birmingham, Mich.) completed the course 26 seconds faster than his closest competitor in the men’s 45-49 contest. Jason Hofman (Boise, Idaho) earned a one-minute victory in the men’s 50-and-over contest while Mark Poore (Slatyfork, W. Va.) won the men’s 60-and-over race.

Taylor Allison (Roxbury, N.Y.) completed the course in 4:33.4 to win the women’s 15-16 race. Lauren Daney (Stafford, Va.), who represented the United States of America at the 2011 Mountain Bike World Championships in Champery, Switzerland in late July, won the junior women’s 17-18 competition with a time of 4:26.5. Emily Smith (Bellingham, Wash.) won the women’s 19-29 contest by 51 seconds while Soraya Khalje (Denver, Colo.) topped the women’s 30-39 contest. Ellen Adams (Moravian Falls, N.C./Brushy Mountain Cyclists Club) won the women’s 40-and-over competition.

Here’s the Trek World Racing report.

Neko Mulally Takes Gold and Silver at US Nationals

His first medal came in the Dual Slalom where he was able to compete against the best Pro’s in the US, and found himself in the final against celebrated slalom rider Mitch Ropelato. The first round of the final saw the two riders within 100th’s of a second of each other, and the gap between the two at the end of the match up was only 0.37secs.

About his Dual Slalom, Neko said: “This was the first time I’d raced slalom all year and I really enjoyed it. It was tight racing and the crowd was huge, which made for a really fun night of riding my Trek. The crowd was so loud I could hardly hear the cadence in the gate!”

In the Downhill Championships, as Neko is still a junior until the end of this year, he was placed in the Junior category, which he won decisively by nearly 11 seconds over Austin Warren, in the very wet conditions. Team mate Aaron Gwin crashed in the Elite Men’s and took 2nd. Neko’s time of 2mins 43.2secs was 1.5secs quicker than anyone else that day and would have won him the elite men’s title, but rules are rules, so Neko will wait until 2012 to have his shot at that coveted US Flag on the sleeve of his team jersey.

On the Downill, Neko said: “National Champs was something I have been looking forward to all year. It was a really fun atmosphere down in North Carolina. So many familiar faces and good people around. All the tracks were really well built, fun and challenging. My good friend Christopher Herndon has been working here all summer preparing for the event and really did an awesome job. It was typical east coast weather all week with a little rain every day and foggy mornings. Fox Racing Shox was there and we pitted with them for week, and Shimano was also there with full support.

“The downhill track was really hard by race time. I ran my Wetscreams uncut for the first time ever. I had a good run, got sideways and was really stoked to post the fastest time.”

Photo credit: Matt DeLorme