Eugene Boronow

Born: 18 September 1967
Hometown: Jamaica, NY
Racing since: 1990
Category: 1
Hobbies: Café hopping.
Contact: eugene@boronow.com

Career highlights:

• 1^st - Orchard Beach Criterium (1998)
• 1^st - Bear Mtn. Spring Classic (1998)
• 1^st - Tour de Parc Criterium (1999)
• 1^st - Tour de Lion (2004)
• 1^st - Tour de Newark (2005, 2006)
• 3^rd - Seaford Road Race (2001)
• 3^rd - Tour of Mt. Nebo (2004)
• 3^rd - Tour of Ohio, Overall, including 2 days in the yellow leader's jersey (2005)
• 3^rd - Tour of Ohio, Stage-4 Road Race (2005)
• 4^th - Jiminy Peak Road Race (1999)
• 7^th - Fitchburg-Longsjo Stage Race, GC (2004)

Background:
"I spent many years as a cat.4 and cat.3 racer and my improvement was slow but steady. But things changed more quickly when I learned how to train properly and how to race efficiently. I wrote a letter to Charlie [Issendorf] asking if he would put me on the team. He called me right away and we had a nice conversation. Unfortunately, his answer was no. He said, "You're good, but not good enough". He wanted winners: "guys who can line up at any race and be a threat to win". He was blunt, but he was right. I had to improve. I wrote a similar letter the following year and got the same response. Late in '02, I sat on a curb with Charlie after a race and we chatted. I could see that he was a little bit interested in taking me, but he had reservations. But then I got lucky: He and his dad [Mr. I] were reorganizing the team for the following year to make it New-York based. So it came down to who, from the NYC area, was available. I was on the long list, but when a few of their top picks became unavailable, my name moved up. Wilson urged them to take me (Wilson and I had been racing against each other for years, and it was great fun. We had lots of good battles), so Charlie relented. Timing is everything."