The Crusher in the Tushar, presented by The Creamery, a gravel event owned and produced by Life Time, welcomed a field of approximately 800 riders representing 37 states and eight countries to Utah’s Tushar Mountains outside of Beaver, Utah on Saturday, July 9, 2022. Crusher in the Tushar joined Life Time’s lineup of premier athletic events in 2019.
The event features a 60/40 split of gravel to tarmac, and racers tackled 10,400’ of climbing over 69 miles on the Crusher course, ‘which serves as one of the most challenging gravel races in the world and the only one with a true mountain top finish‘.
In the pro women’s race, Haley Smith and Sophia Gomez Villafane took an early lead, but there were multiple changes of the lead with Ruth Winder and Sarah Sturm also featuring in the lead group. Smith was the first woman to reach the top of the Col d’Crush QOM point. Smith went on to take victory eight minutes ahead of second place finisher Emma Grant.
In the pro men’s race, Keegan Swenson and Howard Grotts escaped off the front early on, chased by Cole Paton. Swenson was solo by the time the course reached Circleville, and he also reached the KOM point at the top of Col d’Crush in the lead. Swenson crossed the finish line first with a massive winning margin of more than 11 minutes, setting a new course record. The action didn’t stop there, Cole Paton, Griffin Easter and Peter Steina were in a sprint to the end for second through fourth place.
