Brunner and Gunsalus double up, but not without a fight

NORTHAMPTON, MA, November 1, 2026 – Eric Brunner (Competitive Edge Racing) and Lizzy Gunsalus (VIA LLP p/b Van Rysel) repeated their Day 1 victories at Day 2 of the Cycle-Smart Northampton Cyclocross presented by ShiftGear. But in both the men’s and women’s events, the racing was dynamic and unpredictable on the reversed Sunday course.

While Gunsalus led the women’s race from start to finish on Saturday, she had a new obstacle in Lidia Cusack (CXD Trek Bikes), who only raced Sunday. The DC native is balancing her racing career with college at the University of Vermont in Burlington, just a few hours north.

“I was going to have a really hard workout today, so I asked my coach, ‘Can I go race?’, and they said, ‘Sure, just make it a hard 45 minutes.’”

And so she did. Gunsalus won the start and led to the barriers, which Cusack chose to hop, helping create the initial separation. The two rode clear, swapping off and evaluating each other’s strengths and weaknesses on the course.

“I noticed out in the wooded section there was a chicane, and Lidia and I were taking very different lines. With three to go Lidia made a mistake, and I really just punched it and opened up a gap.” That mistake by Cusack led to more as she tried to close the gap, and Gunsalus extended her lead over the last two laps to win by 16 seconds. Dani Bronk (GMCX) and Ellen Noble (JAM Fund) battled for third before Bronk moved clear on that decisive three-to-go lap as well, taking the last podium spot.

The riders will look ahead to Pan Ams next weekend, where Gunsalus aims to defend her jersey, and Cusack races in front of her family and friends.

“Pan Ams is my home race, so this was a perfect way to shake off the cobwebs before the championship.”

Cusack took the U23 title in Northampton, but didn’t specify if she would race U23 or Elites next week in DC.

In the men’s race, Andrew Strohmeyer (Competitive Edge Racing) won the start with Ben Frederick (The Small Monsters Project) and Xander Scopinich-Burgel (JAM Fund) in tow. Frederick got hung up hopping the barriers, and when the lotto balls came to rest, out of the chaos and out of the woods came a lead group of three: Brunner, Aiden Vollmuth (Donovan Racing), and Strohmeyer, with Luke Walter (CXD Trek Bikes) alone in the middle, chased by Frederick and Scopinich-Burgel.

On lap three, Strohmeyer made a mistake in the woods that split the front group, with Brunner riding clear of Vollmuth. Brunner then flatted in the woods himself, leaving Vollmuth off the front alone. Brunner bridged, but got gapped again, pitting twice before finally coming back and going clear with four laps to go. Another flat on the final lap cost Brunner 20 seconds, but his gap over Vollmuth was enough that the win was not at risk.

“I couldn’t ask for a better start to the season here. Usually the first race takes me a little bit to get going, but I’m really looking forward to Pan Ams,” Brunner said.

Vollmuth’s second place earned him the top U23 prize. Walter held on for third, while Dylan Zakrajsek (Competitive Edge Racing) came back from a difficult first lap to work his way through the field for fourth. Strohmeyer’s day went the opposite way; after chasing hard to come back from his earlier mistake, he faded to seventh.

In the UCI Junior Men’s race, Stephen Savino (Competitive Edge Racing) repeated his solo win, while Cormac Nagle (Hot Tubes) attacked his road teammate Sylvan Garrelts (Competitive Edge Racing) with half a lap to go to take second.

Lilli O’Donnell was once again unchallenged in the UCI Junior Women’s race, winning by over a minute from Zoe McGuire (Grey Ghost S.T.A.R.S.) and Elena Svenstrup (AP-CCB Junior Development), swapping their sides of the podium from the day before.

Full results: https://www.crossresults.com/race/14065

Angelic Dixon photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SFqR_x40w_uD9ptB9otPxHfz3a1xRmtQ?usp=sharing

Content Factory video: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dbmoSa9VH5bLqplB9CqDIqTh33LukgCd?usp=sharing

More info: https://www.nohocx.com/