PEEKSKILL – The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) New York mountain bike league’s second race was held on April 28 at the Blue Mountain Reservation in Peekskill.
The Galena Growlers made the three-hour drive down with 16 kids – seven middle school and nine high school riders – racing in the cold, wet, and muddy conditions on the 3.37 mile race loop.
Overall there were 230 riders made up the 20 teams that competed for the Blue Mountain races for the event. The Growlers high school team returned home in 10th place for the season standings and laced 12th for the day while the Growlers middle school team finished the day in fifth place, resulting in seven spot for the current standings.
The race course was a mix of open double track, tight switching single track and park roads with lots of rocks and because of the wet conditions, lots and lots of slick, soupy mud. For the morning races, the middle school and freshman raced two laps.
The later afternoon racers, the sophomore and junior varsity racers rode three laps, with the varsity girls’ running four laps, and the Varsity boys racing five.
“Just finishing the race in these conditions, making it around the course without a mishap today is an accomplishment,” said Rob Bakers, Growlers head coach. “Having two riders make it to the podium is just icing on the cake.”
The two riders that stood on a spot of the podium for the Growlers racing team were Sherburne-Earlville’s Daniel Scholl and Norwich’s Bailey Olds.
Scholl placed fifth in his two-lap freshman boys’ race to stand on the podium for the second straight time. With his two finishes so far this season, Scholl hangs on to the top spot in the standings by two points, and will continue to wear his leader jersey for race number three.
In her first race of the 2019 season, Olds raced to a third place finish in the sophomore girls race. Olds, a veteran rider for the Growlers, came away as the team’s highest individual point total for the afternoon with 481 points.
The Growler’s next race is Sunday, May 19 at the Central NY Epic, Oneonta High School as the fourth race on the season schedule. The at Gurney Lane in Queensbury, which was scheduled to the be the third race of the season was postponed to June 9 due to rain.
Racing Results for the Blue Mountain Reservation event (Race No. 2):
High School
JV Boys Race – William Kelsey (Oxford) in 20th place, Stanton Baker (Norwich) in place 32nd out of 40 riders
Sophomore Boys – Dan Thompson (Norwich) in 23rd place, Andrew Thompson (Norwich) in 26th place out of 27 riders
Sophomore Girls – Bailey Olds (Norwich) in 3rd place out of 3 riders.
Freshman Boys – Daniel Scholl (S-E) in 5th place, Wyatt DuBois (S-E) in 8th place, and Nate Bennett (S-E) in 13th place out of 25 riders
Middle School
8th Grade Boys – Grayson Boyer (Norwich) in 18th place out of 25 riders
7th Grade Boys – Collin Behrmann (Norwich) in 6th place out of 25 riders
7th Grade Girls – Vida Hendrickson (Maine-Endwell) in 6th place put of 6 riders
6th Grade Boys – Evan Heath (Norwich) in 9th place, , Jack Hendrickson (Maine-Endwell) in 14th place and Lucas Scholl 24th (S-E) in place out of 28 riders
6th Grade Girls – Abby Denz (Oxford) in 6th place out of 8 riders
Rider Awards for the Blue Mountain Reservation Race:
Chobani Rider of the Race – Bailey Olds for her 3rd place podium in the Sophomore Girls race
NBT Rider of the Race – Oxford William Kelsey for his JV 20th place finish in his first ever Mountain Bike race.
Anthon LLC Rider of the Race – S-E’s Daniel Scholl for his Freshman Boys 5th place podium
Oliver’s Campers Rider of the Race – Goes to Stanton Baker (Norwich), who encountered a broken chain during his 3-lap race, forcing him to run over a mile of the course with a broken bike, he switched out his bike, taking a 10-minute penalty and still finished respectively.
 
– Meagan Schulz, Sun Sports Editor