Husband and wife Robert and Philicia Marion (in orange) at the 2018
U.S. Open Fat Bike Beach Championships at Wrightsville Beach. The
couple is hoping to take both elite titles this year. Philicia Marion is
ranked in the top 30 nationally in cyclocross. Robert Marion won the
elite title in 2016 and is returning following a serious injury in 2017.
ONE PEDAL AT A TIME
Wendy Laursen
MA, LPC, LCAS-A
Individual, Teen, Couples,
and Family Therapy
18
WBM march 2019
JENNIFER SIMPSON PHOTOGRAPHY
An expanded
field is expected for
2019’s Fat Bike Beach
Championship race
at Wrightsville.
Like other busi-nesses
post Hurricane
Florence, event
founder and race direc-tor
Shawn Spencer’s
etc.
The Fifth Annual
US Open Fat
Bike Beach
Championships
continue to grow
each year as they
support the local
community and
offer a unique
venue for competi-tive
bike shop struggled,
but he is determined
not only to make the
event happen, but
become bigger than ever.
“This is bigger than me,” he
says. The race cap has doubled to
100 participants in two races, seg-menting
the elite category from
the intermediate and beginner
groups, limiting each race to 100
bikers. “The elite racers will have
the track alone for the first time,”
Spencer says. “The elite, interme-diate
and beginner races will be
more exciting with less conges-tion
on the track.”
This year’s Fat Bike
Beach Championships
will be held Saturday,
March 23 from noon
to 4 p.m. on the
Wrightsville Beach
strand from Stone
Street to Hanover
Seaside Club.
Spectators
are
welcome. The fat
bike course offers
an ever-changing,
bike riding.
2-mile loop terrain.
Sunday features an optional
18-mile social bike ride on the
beach from Fort Fisher to Bald
Head Island and back.
Spencer is a committed envi-ronmentalist.
After each event,
volunteers from the community
join in for a beach sweep to close
out a hard day of cycling with a
little good nature.
— John Ellis
910-506-3728 • WendyLaursen.com
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