What follows is a letter sent to a publication that recounts the author’s special encounter with Team Seven’s Mary McConneloug. It is reprinted here by permission of its author.
Editor,
At first I thought it was oxygen deprivation. In the middle of the “C” race at the Downeast Cyclocross in New Gloucester, Maine, I was struggling up a long hill towards what would eventually end in a mid-pack finish. To my right, a young woman in street clothes suddenly appeared along beside me, offering me a fresh bottle of water. “Strange,” I thought, “doesn’t she look like Mary McConneloug…”
Well, it turns out this was no apparition at all, but McConneloug herself. Despite the fact that her race was still hours and hours away, this Olympian took time in the early morning to cheer on a bunch of anonymous “C” racers and to offer us a drink and a few words of encouragement.
I hope McConneloug’s cyclocross sponsor, Seven Cycles, knows what a gem it has in her. In an age where elite athletes seem to occupy another world, McConneloug’s down-to-Earth nature is refreshing and admirable. I’ll be cheering her on all the way to the World Championships in St. Wendell, Germany.
Jack B., ME