New HQ and a New World Record!

October 28th, 2026 by Wendy Grant

Highlights From the 17th Annual ElliptiGO Rally and World Championships

Not even gusting Santa Ana winds could keep the ElliptiGO community away from Solana Beach, California, on the weekend of October 16-18, 2026. The 17th Annual ElliptiGO Rally and World Championships, co-hosted by ElliptiGO and the Global ElliptiGO Riders Club (GERC), brought riders and ElliptiGO HQ team members together for the biggest ElliptiGO weekend of the year.

Riders traveled from 13 states — and from as far away as Zurich, Switzerland — for three days of riding, racing and reconnecting. This year’s Rally came with a few new twists: a new home base at ElliptiGO’s Beachwalk headquarters, high winds that pushed the World Championships back a day and a new course record after 14 years.

Here are the highlights from a weekend that proved this community can roll with just about anything Mother Nature sends its way.

Friday: An Open House at ElliptiGO’s New Home

The weekend kicked off Friday evening with an open house at ElliptiGO’s new headquarters at Beachwalk in Solana Beach. Riders got their first look at the new space and met two of the most popular members of the ElliptiGO team: the ElliptiDogs, Lucy and Daisy.

From there, the fun moved across the parking lot to Solana Beach Kitchen, where the group gathered for appetizers, drinks and plenty of catching up. “It was really nice for people to hang at HQ for a while and then just stroll over to the restaurant,” says Jane Cremer, who, along with Jim Cremer, helped organize the weekend’s rides and dinner.

Meanwhile, the Santa Ana winds were starting to kick in, causing travel delays for some riders heading into town. As it turned out, the winds were just getting started.

Saturday: A Change of Plans

Saturday morning was supposed to belong to the World Championships climb up Palomar Mountain. But with dangerously high winds in the mountains, organizers put rider safety first and made the call to postpone the race to Sunday morning.

Down on the coast, the Rally rolled on. Riders gathered at ElliptiGO HQ in the early afternoon and set out on group rides. Cyclists chose from three different routes and distances, with the most adventurous group tackling a 12-mile ride with a climb to the top of Torrey Pines.

An Evening of Celebration

That evening, the community came together at the Park Del Mar Clubhouse in Solana Beach for the annual GERC Dinner and Awards Ceremony. Riders enjoyed dinner together and a beautiful sunset before turning their attention to the night’s honorees. It was an especially meaningful evening for GERC, which celebrated a decade of bringing ElliptiGO riders together through group rides, events and friendly competition.

Both ElliptiGO HQ and GERC recognized riders and teams who stood out for their passion, performance and contributions in 2026. Congratulations to this year’s winners!

ElliptiGO Awards

John Pilkington Spirit Award: Steven Hay
ElliptiGO Riders of the Year: Kitty Vernooij and Jim Pringle

Steven Hay, who is known throughout the community for encouraging and supporting fellow riders, was honored with the 2026 John Pilkington Spirit Award. This year two deserving riders were named Riders of the Year. Kitty Vernooij of the Netherlands became the first woman and only the second rider ever to log more than 100,000 lifetime miles on ElliptiGO bikes. Jim Pringle climbed more than 500,000 feet this GOGO season, far more than any other rider. ElliptiGO CEO Bryce Whiting presented the awards. Learn more about this year’s Spirit Award and Riders of the Year winners.

GERC Awards

Each September, GERC members form teams and go head-to-head in the GOGO September Team Tournament, with weekly matches scored on distance, elevation gain and days ridden. This year, team Standing GOvation was unstoppable, winning all seven of its matches to claim the Eagle Trophy. Walter Baldwin, Jane Cremer, Berni Flynn, Spirit Award winner Steven Hay, Kathi Karen, Allen Kilpatrick, Gabe Moreno, Barbara Richardson, Morrie Siegel and John Stroud composed the winning team of Standing GOvation.

Close behind, GOing, GOing, GOne!, 2 GO or Not 2 GO and Away We GO each notched five match wins.

Eagle Trophy (Overall Champion): Standing GOvation
Category Winners:
- Distance ridden: Standing GOvation — 3,661 miles
- Elevation climbed: Standing GOvation — 144,870 feet
- Total days ridden: Away We GO — 168 days

Category winners are based on each team’s three-week totals.

Sunday: A Record-Breaking Climb Up Palomar

On Sunday morning, Oct. 18, the winds had died down and the rescheduled Elliptical Cycling and Stand-Up Cycling World Championships got underway. Eighteen riders set off in staggered waves to take on Palomar Mountain’s 11.69-mile course, with 4,209 feet of elevation gain and an average 7% grade.

It was worth the wait. ElliptiGO athlete Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau, competing in his first World Championships, powered to the top in 1:09:30 — breaking the world record up Palomar by 25 seconds. The previous record of 1:09:55 had stood since 2014 and was set by Elite Master’s Runner Rusty Snow, who won the ElliptiGO World Championships seven years in a row, 2012 through 2018.

A Brooks-sponsored professional trail and mountain runner and Stanford University alum, Meika has had a remarkable comeback year. After double knee surgery, he rebuilt his fitness by training on his ElliptiGO bike. Then he started racking up wins. He set an ElliptiGO record up Pikes Peak in August, finishing in 1:36:06 in his first-ever bike race, in addition to winning four running races in June, July, August and September. Just one week before the ElliptiGO World Championships, he won the World Mountain Running Association World Cup Uphill Championship.

Meika came to Palomar with one goal: to set the fastest time ever up the mountain. Mission accomplished!

Two familiar faces kept their incredible winning streaks alive, too. Jonathan Matthews claimed the men’s stand-up bike division in 1:29:27 — the second-fastest time of the day and his third straight win in the category. And Teresa Fukumoto-Beebe won the women’s elliptical division in 1:45:55, earning her fourth consecutive World Championships title.

In the men’s elliptical division, Andy Chan of San Francisco took second in 1:41:29, followed by Daniel Ackerman, who made the trip from Zurich, in 1:43:03. On the women’s side, Kim Rose moved up from her third-place finish last year to claim second in 2:01:02, and Anna Thatcher took third in 2:12:02. ElliptiGO CEO Bryce Whiting and Bryan Pate, CEO of ElliptiGO’s parent company, PT Motion Works, also made the climb, as did Steven Hay.

Podium Results

Men’s Elliptical Division
1st – Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau 1:09:30 (world record)
2nd – Andy Chan 1:41:29
3rd – Daniel Ackerman 1:43:03

Women’s Elliptical Division
1st – Teresa Fukumoto-Beebe 1:45:55
2nd – Kim Rose 2:01:02
3rd – Anna Thatcher 2:12:02

Men’s Stand-Up Bike Division
1st – Jonathan Matthews 1:29:27

See the full list of 2026 World Championships results.

Sunday Send-Off: Rides, Brunch and a Warm Welcome

Back on the coast, Sunday’s Rally rides rolled out from ElliptiGO HQ. With many riders racing or cheering on Palomar, the groups were smaller than usual, but everyone enjoyed great rides, with the long-route group heading up the coast to the Oceanside Pier and back.

Starting and finishing the group rides at the new Beachwalk HQ proved to be a winning formula, says Jane. She adds, “I think it led to people hanging out and socializing longer afterwards.”

Riders grabbed coffee and food from Achilles Coffee and Choice Juicery, then settled in front of ElliptiGO HQ to eat, drink and swap stories from the weekend. Many stayed long enough to welcome back the riders returning from Palomar — a fitting finish to a weekend that was all about community.