Congratulations to Margaret Kemnah (UV) and Mckenzie Hagenbuch (Norwich) on making the Freshman girls podium. Kemnah won the race and Hagenbuch came in fourth place. (Submitted Photo)

WAWARSING —On May 2 and 3, the Galena Growlers Composite youth Mountain Bike team, one of 17 teams and part of the 248 kids in the New York National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) League, traveled down to Lippman Park in Wawarsing, NY. Ten Growlers made the trip to race in our first race of the season, a fast flowy ~2.8 mile course thru the man made trails in the park to race against 238 other kids on their mountain bikes.

Saturday was course pre-ride day where the kids and coaches are allowed out on the course starting at 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The kids get to see the race course and how it is laid out, where the technical sections are, where the fast downhills are, and the tough uphills. It is their chance to practice the entire course, where the team goes out and slowly rides the loop. Out of the 10 Growlers racing, we had 3 first time middle school racers this year. NICA is now open to fifth grade – the first year opening it up with that category for both boys and girls. The weather was partly cloudy both days and the race course, even though it rained on Friday, was in really great conditions for racing, with only one slightly wet spot. With course pre-ride complete, the kids and coaches now turned to Sunday – Race Day.

Sunday kicked off with the Middle School racing with the MS girls racing first, followed by the Middle School boys. The Growlers had one MS girl, fifth grader Adeline Vazquez of Norwich. Adeline joined the team four days ago and wanted to try racing. She did awesome – finishing her 2 lap 5.6 miles in the woods in 13th place after just three practices. Next up were the Middle School boys with our four Growlers. All four had a great day.

In the Middle School advanced category, eighth grader Elijah Mondics had his best race in his career finishing in third place out of 13 kids overall in his 3-lap race. Eli made a move halfway in to his third lap and moved from sixth to third place just missing a four person crash that happened directly in front of him. His fellow eighth grader, Uriah Bugyi, finishing 16th out of 25 in the eighth grade boy’s race. First timer, sixth grade boys, Jules Carney, raced in the sixth grade boys category. Jules completed 1 of two laps after a crash in the rock garden section of the course finishing in 23rd place; he’s ok, a little sore here and there but was back on his bike later that afternoon. Elliot Mondics raced in the fifth grade boys category and finished 10th out of 32 riders in that category. A crash cost him about a minute on his second lap and about 4 positions. It was also Elliot’s first race!!

Once the Middle School girls and boys were complete and all finished, the High school girls kicked off the late morning / afternoon events, followed by the High School boys. This year, the Growlers, for the first time, have two High School girls in the mix, both in the Freshman category. Freshman Margaret Kemnah from South New Berlin and Mckenzie Hagenbuch of Norwich competed over 3 laps against seven other tough girls from Syracuse, Otsego, Saratoga and Rochester. Margaret, picking up from last year’s undefeated season in eighth grade, led from the start all 3 of her laps to finish in first place. Mckenzie had a great race finishing in fourth place overall. Both of our girls rode great strong races! They are only going to get better and better! These girls were fast today – and the Freshman Girls race category is tough!! Both of our girls would have won the Sophomore category based on time today.

Our High school boys had three riders, Amon Oliver of Norwich riding in the JV Boys category, Malakai Hagenbuch of Norwich in the sophomore boys category and John Gracey from Vernon in the Freshman Boys category. Amon rode to an eighth place finish out of 19 riders, Malakai finished in seventh out of 20 riders and John came in ninth place out of 25 boys in his category. Amon finished his 3 laps in 44:56, Kai was 47:50 and John 46:59. All three boys were flying out on the course.

The High School team came away with a sixth place overall finish, out of 17 teams behind large teams from Saratoga (two teams), Niskayuna, Syracuse, and Albany. High School scoring is a 4-person score, taking your best points from your high school riders in any of the three combinations of Boy-Boy-Boy-Girl, or Boy-Boy-Girl-Girl, or Boy-Girl-Girl-Girl. The Growlers, first time having two girls, got to use the B-B-G-G format, scoring 1901 total points. The top three teams were using a G-G-G-B format, then fourth and fifth are using the B-B-B-G format. Points wise, it is more beneficial to have more girls on your team as there are not as many girls competing, thus the girls finish higher and the team gets more points!! Our format was actually G-B-G-B points wise (500(Kemnah)-481(Oliver)-472(Hagenbuch)-448(Hagenbuch)).

The first race shout out awards:

R.E. Brooks Construction - Margaret Kemnah for her win (6th in a row) for Freshman Girls

Adsit Septic and Excavation - Eli Mondics for his 3rd place podium in Boys Middle School Advanced

Cummings Enterprize and Trucking - John Gracey for his come from the rear 9th place ride Freshman Boys

Cycle CNY - McKenzie Hagenbuch for her 4th place podium finish Freshman Girls

Thompson Brothers, Inc.  - Amon Oliver - fastest lap of the day and 8th place JV Boys (fastest 3 laps)

The Growlers next compete over in Oneonta at the High School on the hilly course out behind the school – Race 2 is May 17 with races starting at 915 a.m.! Come on over and cheer the Growlers on – and see a sport where the kids have no bench, no timeouts, no substitutes; It’s the kid and their bike out in the woods for a grueling hour of ride time!! Bring your cowbells!!

-Information from the Galena Growlers