Saturday presented an exceptional day for the final big mountain biking race, which Fall Classic cyclists welcomed with open arms.

Roughly 230 riders showed up for the annual event whose course winds through Horseshoe Gulch, past Baker's Tank and down Indiana Gulch. Race coordinator Jeff Westcott said he had riders tell him Saturday's course was the best they'd ridden — and they participated in the Breck Epic, the Breck 100 and other long races in the county.

“The Fall Classic is one of those old-time Breck events, not unlike the Crest last weekend,” Westcott said. “It's been around since the '80s and it's a tradition worth keeping.”

More than half the field was from the Front Range, Westcott said.

“It's a great way for them to escape the heat and wind down the summer. It's the last big race in the High Country.”

In the elite men category, Cameron Chambers took first in 2 hours, 20 minutes and 7 seconds. He's also known as the 2012 singlespeed national champion. Jay Henry — the 2012 Firecracker 50 champion — finished second in 2:24:40, while Peter Kalmes finished third in 2:28:52. Local rider Nick Truitt finished fourth, but also was named the overall champion in the elite men category for this season's seven Summit Mountain Challenge races.

Gretchen Reeves, this year's Firecracker 50 women's champion, won among the elite women in 2:50:36 while Sara Schuler came in second in 2:54:14 and Breck rider Jaime Brede finished in 3:01:09 — and took the women's elite championship for the season.

Other highlights included Landon Longenecker taking second in his sport men 19-34 category for the day, and finishing champion for the season in the category.

The expert men 19-34 category came down to a 10-point spread between the first and second-place finishers for the season. In the end, Joe Howdyshell came out on top with Scott Archer following.

Westcott gave a shout-out to Sarah Homolish, who took third overall in sport women 19-39 for the season.

“She's only been riding for a few years,” Westcott said. “She's been steadily improving and working into it. For her to get on the podium overall is just so awesome for her.”

Jessica Johns and Leigh Tofte placed first and second, respectively, overall for the season.

Look for full results in Wednesday's Summit Daily News.