If there is a phrase that best defines the Tour of Somerville men’s winners’ dominance in the 1990s, it would be “from around the corner to way down under.” A local rider who considered Somerville “my hometown race” wins a record five times through the decade and into the next, while New Zealanders and Australians find Somerville’s flat, fast course much to their liking. Born in Detroit and raised in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Jonas Carney, as well as his brother “Jamie,” cut their cycling teeth as “midget category” (yes, that’s what it was called) racers here and on the Trexlertown Velodrome in nearby Pennsylvania. Both scored big wins on the national scene, with Jonas winning what he labeled “my backyard race” a record five times (1992, 1998, 2000, 2002,2003) and boasting national titles in the criterium and on the track. As for the New Zealanders and “Aussies,” they found the winner’s podium in 1993 with Gary Anderson, NZ, 1996 with Julian Dean, NZ, and with Australian Bret Aitken in 1997.
The women’s newly named “Mildred Kugler Memorial” 25-mile race (in honor of Pop Kugler’s daughter and 1941 national champion) continued to draw top competition from around the globe. American cyclists Jan Boland (Connecticut), Karen Bliss-Livingston (Lewisburg, Pa.), and Laura Charameda (Santa Rosa, Calif, who would later compete in the women’s Tour de France), ushered in the decade with wins in 1990, 1991, and 1992. Marianne Berglund of Sweden brought the foreign rider spotlight back to Somerville in 1993. A proud “Jersey Girl,” Jessica Grieco of Emerson would win back-to-back in 1995 and 1996, while Karen Bliss-Livingston returned with her double win in 1998 and 1999. The decade closed with a new “must watch” rider, Laura Van-Gilder from Pocono Pines, Pa., taking home her first of many more Somerville wins to come in the years ahead.
