Donna Foster had her extra-large salad bowl out Saturday – the one she uses when athletes come to visit.
As the wife of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball coach and Hall of Famer Jim Foster, Donna Foster has fed plenty of athletes over the years.
But on Saturday she wasn’t feeding her husband’s players – she was fueling up nine cyclists on her son Christian’s United Healthcare of Georgia cycling team for the Litespeed Criterium portion of the River Gorge Omnium.
Christian Foster was happy to have the Athens, Ga.-based team housed in style at the Foster home on Missionary Ridge and to be racing in Chattanooga.
“It’s great that my parents are able to put them up,” he said. “I think they enjoyed being able to ride [Friday] when they got there. They hung out downtown a little bit and the proximity of Missionary Ridge to downtown makes that so easy. This town has done so much in the way of planning and infrastructure that it’s nice to get around on a bicycle compared to places like Atlanta.”
The River Gorge Omnium began Saturday morning with a time trial, followed by a criterium circuit race Saturday afternoon and evening downtown near Miller Plaza, and ending with a road race that night.
Christian Foster said his riders love to compete in a vibrant downtown setting like Chattanooga.
“The guys will tell you that 75 percent of the time they’re racing in a criterium in an office park, an industrial park or in a downtown where three out of every four businesses is boarded up,” he said. “But when you see a town like Chattanooga or Athens (Ga.) put a race like this on main thoroughfares, that gets us excited.”
Whether it was the excitement, the Foster family’s good food or Christian Foster’s plan for his nine riders, the criterium was a success. Austin Ulich won the showcase Pro/Cat1/Cat2 event after pulling away on a solo breakaway in the final, rain-soaked laps on the 1-kilometer course. Overall, the top omnium finishers were Bryan Lewis in the Pro/1 category and Debbie Milne in the women’s Cat 1/2 top division.
For Jim Foster, who has won 812 women’s basketball games in 36 seasons as a head coach and led the Mocs to a No. 17 national ranking last season, watching his son lead a group of athletes was gratifying, but not surprising.
“I’m not surprised that he’s very good at it because he’s always had that approach,” Jim Foster said. “Whatever has been in front of him he’s gone after it. It’s obvious that he’s got the respect of those guys, and they listen and pay attention and do good things.”
Christian Foster said he enjoys having his father watch him work and has leaned on his expertise at times.
“I’ve seen him coach countless basketball games, and now he has an opportunity to see me coach from the sidelines.” Christian said. “I think he gets excited about it.
“I always enjoy his opinion of the situation. He doesn’t oftentimes give it, but I’ll solicit from time to time when I have an issue with a rider. I’ll lean on him for advice because I think the coach transcends the [sport].”
In turn, the elder Foster says he has a huge respect for his son’s accomplishments as an athlete and team director.
“I think it’s the ultimate team sport,” Jim Foster said. “You have to do your job for someone on your team to win. They have nine guys racing and only one is going to win. That will only happen if the team does its job.”
Christian Foster said his riders enjoyed the experience and felt that the River Gorge Omnium is getting bigger and better each year – a trend that should continue to bring more athletes and fans to these events in the future.
“I think the Southeast has really become a destination for athletes,” he said. “Another thing that endurance athletes are drawn to is health and wellness in general. Places like Chattanooga, with the farm-to-table movement and the restaurants – there’s just a lot of stuff happening here.
“It’s vibrant and you can tell that there’s just a life that’s been breathed into it.”
Contact Jim Tanner at jftanner@bellsouth.net. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.