Geoff Proctor Adds Women’s Week to July MontanaCrossCamp

Kaitie Antonneau will be the featured coach at Geoff Proctor’s first Montana cyclocross development camp for women in July 2017

This year Geoff Proctor will strengthen a July cyclocross tradition by holding not one but two development camps in Montana. The new six-day session is for young women only. Beginning on July 10, they will learn under the guidance of a dedicated coach, Kaitie Antonneau (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com). Proctor, also a member of the UCI Cyclocross Commission, directs the camps which are organized by GP Velo Mondial of Helena, Montana.

Eight women have been invited. Just like the men, riders are selected based on their results and character.

For more than a decade Proctor has come to know and shepherd many female athletes to success in cyclocross. Additionally, their performance in other cycling disciplines has benefited from honing ‘cross skills, such as sprinting out of corners and finessing the bike under dicey conditions. He’s also worked with women as founder of EuroCrossCamp and in his role as Team USA manager at European cyclocross competitions.

“My first year as a world champs coach, 2002 in Zolder, we won the women’s team nations competition with Alison Dunlap, Ann Grande, Carmen D’Alusio and Gina Hall,” Proctor wrote in an email to ProVeloPassion. “All four were in the top 13.”

D’Alusio and Hall were also members of the first EuroCrossCamp class in 2003.

In the Team USA capacity he’s worked with talents such as Elle Anderson, Courtenay McFadden, Ellen Noble, Emma White and Antonneau.

Regarding Antonneau, three experiences with the petite dynamo stand out in Proctor’s mind.

There’s Thanksgiving 2011 at Koksijde when Antonneau and Luke Keough both raced that block; Proctor is happy to have presided at what he thinks may have been the first meeting between this couple with wedding plans. In 2015 at the Valkenburg World Cup, Proctor was present as team coach for Antonneau’s second place finish. And most recently they spent time together over Christmas week racing last year.

“I drove Kaitie back from the Namur World Cup to Sittard, sharing thoughts on life and athletics,” Proctor wrote. “That was when I made the decision that I really wanted to have Kaitie help with a summer women’s camp.

“I’ve always wanted to do a women’s camp here in Montana. It’s just been a matter of getting everything to come together – dorms, coaches, logistics. For both men and women, given the size of our country, it’s crucial to bring these top riders together to push and support each other. The whole point is to come together and build each other up.”

Pro rider Allison Arensman will assist the women as a guest rider. She owns a new elite and development women’s cyclocross team, J.A. King p/b Blue Ridge ‘Cross.

Tobin Ortenblad, steady in any conditions, here at cyclocross nationals in 2017

The men’s cohort of 22 will converge on Helena, Montana, later in the month on July24. Proctor has staged the men’s development camp annually since 2011. The alumni constitute a “who’s who” of nationally and internationally successful cyclocrossers. Among them is prior U23 national ‘cross champion Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz Factory Racing) who will assist as a guest rider at both camps. Alum Gage Hecht nearly placed third in the junior men’s world cyclocross championships in 2015.

Gage Hecht leads the Netherlands’ Max Gulickx after the stairs at 2015 world championships in Tabor

Hecht attends camp with several U23 riders; the addition of that age group is another expansion of the Montana tradition.

“To work with these young riders—and see them go on and perform well, both nationally and internationally,” Proctor added, “it’s tremendous inspiration.”

Ashley Zoerner, 2017 junior women 17-18 national cyclocross champion

In addition to Hecht, other Colorado riders expected to take part in the camps are: Ashley Zoerner, Petra Schmidtmann, Laurel Rathbun, Brannan Fix and Jared Scott.

Full 2017 MontanaCrossCamp Roster

Women’s Roster (July 10-15)

Men’s Roster (July 24-29)