BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — Event organizers Richard Fries and Joan Hanscom were among the inductees into the Woolly Mammoth Society during the USA Cycling cyclocross national championships held here last week. The Woolly Mammoth Society is the unofficial U.S. cyclocross hall of fame.
Fries and Hanscom are well-known in the bike industry: Fries is an event promotor, announcer and former journalist; Hanscom also has been involved in event management and is currently PR and marketing manager of the Abus bike lock brand.
Other inductees this year were Jeremy Powers — who won his second pro men's national title at the Boulder race on Sunday — and Amy Dombroski, a multi-time cyclocross national champion who died after a collision with a vehicle in Belgium last year.
Fries produces the Providence (R.I.) Cyclo-cross Festival and is working to bring a cyclocross World Cup to U.S. soil for the first time in 2015.
He said he was honored by the recognition from his cycling peers. "When I looked at the names of the prior inductees — Katie Compton, Tim Johnson, Jonathan Page, Alison Dunlap, and other legends of American cyclocross — I had just one thought: 'What the hell am I doing here?' I am dearly appreciative of this recognition by the prior inductees.”
Hanscom was recognized for her promotion of cyclocross as the long-time owner of the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series and for leading the charge to bring the Cyclocross World Championships to Louisville, Ky., in 2013.
