Outside
March 2006

Overnight Success
Twenty-four-hour mountain-bike champion Monique Sawicki
catches an entire sport by surprise

By Andrew Vontz

Sponsors always have their eyes peeled for up-and-comers with the potential to dominate their sport. So why did mountain biker Monique ‘Pua’ Sawicki‹the 2005 National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) marathon series winner and 24-hour national champion‹have to fund her own race program last year? Probably because the Hawaii native skipped the up-and-coming bit. In only her second year of racing, and her first as a pro, Sawicki tracked mud onto the podiums of every race she entered‹an out-of-nowhere champ that never gave anyone a chance to discover her. “It’s hard to get sponsorship money for cycling in America where we all drive cars and watch ball sports. But she has the genetic predisposition and training ethic to go as far as she wants,” says Tony Ellsworth. His mountain bike company, Ellsworth, will provide frames for Sawicki in ’06.

While attending Chaminade University in Oahu, HI on scholarship for cross country racer running, Sawicki also showed early promise as a sprint and Olympic distance triathlete. But after she met her husband, Ron, on a mountain bike ride, she found her niche. She took third in her first race, a NORBA marathon national in 2004, despite racing in a field of seasoned pros, and went on to win the NORBA marathon series title and take third at the marathon national chaqmpionships.

She turned professional in 2005 and supported herself between races by installing window covers with her husband, who doubles as her entire support crew on the road. “We’d go to a race and be gone a week, lose that pay, and then never catch up,” says Sawicki, who spent $30,000 of her own money to race last year. “We didn¹t know how we’d buy food or pay rent.”

For ‘06, Sawicki has lined up primary sponsorship with Irvine, CA-based shipping company Sho-Air International as well as all the gear and clothing deals she will need to compete as a full-time professional athlete. She plans to take full advantage. In addition to racing a full NORBA season, she’s aiming for a return to her triathlon roots, with an eye toward the Ironman. “The situation for next year is a dream come true,” she says. “Now I’ll be able to see what I can really do. I want to rock in ’06.”