Jurekovic finishes close behind Sauser in an impressive 2nd place win                                                                                     

  Christoph Sauser, 32, of Switzerland made it clear why he wears the 2008 Cross-country World Champion jersey this past weekend during the three-day revival of the Cactus Cup  in Las Vegas.   In fourth place in the general classification at the start of Sunday morning’s Titus Bicycles Cross-country course, Sauser crossed the finish line and took first place overall, with a winning total time of 2:35:35.  The dry and rocky desert terrain of the Mountain’s Edge Cactus Cup varies greatly from that of the typical European World Cup races, yet Sauser said after the race that he loved the course.  Kelli Emmett, 31, took first place overall for the women with a total winning time of 3:35:33.

 Sam Jurekovic of Colorado Springs, Colo. finished close behind Sauser.  The 22 year-old, who is the Under 23 National Cross-country Champion and who took first in Friday night’s Time Trial and Saturday morning’s Super-D, had a total time of 2:36:28. Australian National Champion Sid Taberlay, 28, of Team Sho-Air finished third overall with a total time of 2:39:33. Taberlay took second in the Super D and first place in the Fat Tire Criterium on Saturday.

 Local rider Mike Hileman, 40, finished first in the Expert Category with 264 points for the amateur omnium, after winning both the Time Trial and Super D events. Brandon Cunningham, also of Las Vegas, finished second followed by Bob McCall in third overall.

 The Mountain’s Edge Cactus Cup was a fundraiser for the HERA Women’s Cancer Foundation (www.herafoundation.org) and the Animal Foundation located in Las Vegas (www.animalfoundation.com).

 
About the Cactus Cup

The Cactus Cup was first launched in 1991 in Scottsdale, Arizona as a grassroots mountain bike event. The race and festival quickly became the world’s No. 1 mountain bike event attracting 10,000 participants and 75,000 spectators with races in U.S. cities including Scottsdale, Athens, Ga., Galena, Ill., Miami, Crested Butte, Colo., and Memphis, Tenn. International Cactus Cup events have been held in Tokyo, Japan; Cairns, Australia; Munster, France; Munich, Germany; Canmore, Alberta, and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada; and Sao Paulo, Brazil. The last Cactus Cup was held in 2001 in Athens, Ga. In 2008 Swagger, LLC, partnered with Mountain’s Edge to revive the event in Las Vegas.

  Complete results: www.cactuscuplasvegas.com