GLOBE, AZ – Bora Leonard (Team Simple Green) became the new 2010 Category 4 Senior Women AZ State Road Race Champion, which took place on May 16, 2010. With over 3,000 feet of climbing in 35 miles, this year’s Arizona State Road Race was a tough course, consisting of seven miles of flats to “warm up,” followed by a few rollers over five miles and then a fast six mile descent to the turn around.
With her two other Simple Green teammates riding the combined Cat 1/2/3 race, Bora was left alone to ride the Cat 4 pack for the first half of the race, letting the other teams work together to thin the peloton. As a result, by the turn around point, only seven cyclists were left.
Bora followed the wheel of another rider who made a break attempt at the turn, then countered with a tough pace up on a long six mile climb. Half way up, only Louisa Larson, from AllSports GPS, remained.
Sharing the work (Bora was limited to junior gearing 50-14), these two young women developed a large lead. With Larson on her wheel, Bora then dished out a 1 km hammer on the flats to take the win!
Eloy/Arizona City, AZ (Sep 12, 2010) – After having won the Elite Women’s Cat 4 State Road Race, Bora then upgraded to Category 3 in time to compete in this year’s Individual Time Trial AZ State Championships. She proceeded to post a 1:08:27 en route to another first place finish! On top of that, she and her father won the Mixed Tandem Time Trial State Championship as well.
Safford, AZ (Sep 26, 2010) – Given the confidence boost from her earlier win in the Women’s Cat 3 ITT AZ State Championship, Bora next set sights on the 31st Mt. Graham Hill Climb, an AZ State Championship event. Having w
on this event the previous two years as a Junior, this year she would be competing in the Elite Women’s Cat 3 race. The Mt Graham hill climb is one of the top 15 toughest climbs in the United States; almost 6 thousand feet of climbing in 20 miles. The race is a mass start, with all categories, men and women, racing together. Bora didn’t feel well that day, and got off to a bad start quickly going “red” but displayed a great deal of maturity in settling into a rhythm and passing cyclists on the steeper sections of the mountain.
Bora reached the top in 2:06:15, winning the CAT 3 Women race and making it a perfect sweep — AZ State Champion in the Road Race (Elite Cat 4), Individual Time Trial (Elite Cat 3), and Hill Climb (Elite Cat 3)!