Press Release
The Carbon mountain bike team was created last year by Mark Jespersen, owner of Bicyclewerks, with three sophomores who competed against other kids across the state of Utah in five races. This year, the team has grown to 19 kids ranging between seventh and 12th grade.
The Utah league is part of a national organization called NICA and is the country’s largest and fastest growing league with 3,700 registered riders this year, which is broken into three regions. The local kids compete against like age and gender; i.e. 11th grade boys against 11th grade boys, etc. and will race in five races this year at different venues each time.
This past weekend, the team went to Kamas and competed against the other 1,300 kids in the South Region, which includes schools in Utah County, south to St. George and east to Moab. With only three returning riders, it was the first race experience for the other 16 kids. Nerves were present, adrenaline was pumping and off they went on a challenging course. All age groups raced the 4.6-mile loop with 639 feet of elevation gain, which combined a canal service road with some single track switchbacks. Depending on the age group, riders completed one, two, three or four laps.
The team had a strong presence with a 12th place team finish out of 20 school clubs. Riders finished in a variety of placements with one of Carbon’s freshman, Craig Olsen, taking third place and getting on the podium. Other notable finishes were Trevor Worley, eighth place, Garrett Black, 27th place, Chad Page, 26th place, and Ryan Page, 30th place. Most of the age/gender groups are racing against approximately 100 other riders.
Carbon team members include: Raquel Worley, Lori McCourt, Ethan Daniels, Sam Carpenter, Brant Adams, Kolten Jennings, Chad Page, Ryan Page, Gage Malmgren, Shane Schauguard, Rusty Seeley, Craig Olsen, Trevor Worley, Garrett Black, Nathan Engar, Colin Fausett Spencer Tullis, Louie Jensen and Max McCourt.
Next up, the team will travel to Richfield.
