Season Number FIVE for Shorewood MTB and the Wisconsin League of NICA. The Shorewood machine keeps rolling on and it's been incredible to see the new riders, following in the footsteps of our experienced leaders, taking on the challenges of our sport.
Due to the number of riders, our race day schedule has stretched a bit with the High School Boys now heading out over two different races. The younger middle school ranks continue to expand rapidly as many are just starting off on their mountain bike experience. It was also great seeing the continued growth of the League and even more teams joining Shorewood in the larger, Division 1 ranks. Nearly 700 student-athletes from 53 different teams showed up to race at Minooka, with even more pre-riding the course on Saturday, just for fun.
With Minooka being the closest thing to a home course for us, our riders are typically very prepared and familiar with the trails. An exceptionally wet late summer cancelled a couple of our final practice sessions, and the trails were closed for the whole week leading into the race. The caution of our trail stewards paid off, because the singletrack could not have been in better shape once the race weekend rolled around!
On race day morning, we were sent off for each race with a performance of our National anthem by our very own Shorewood High School Chamber Singers, returning for their second season kickoff at Minooka. They brought the house down and the races were underway. The Hounds represented with their largest race field in our team's history...39 different Hounds took the start line! There were some great battles throughout the day and Shorewood MTB was up to the task. Every one of our new riders that started, conquered the challenge of finishing their first NICA mountain bike race - Congratulations to Leo, Pramana, Spencer, Gregor, Chase, Matthew, Judah, Reuben, Conrad, Vera, Daphne, Maia, Shira & Grace...WOW!
Many of our experienced riders have moved up this season to longer races, with additional laps from last year, but they all rose to the challenge. The podiums were very solidly represented by Hounds with Nick winning the Freshman race, Mark placing 3rd (and his first podium appearance), Isak & Charlie D. taking 3rd and 5th in the JV3 race and Eli finishing 5th in the super-competitive Varsity race. Beyond the podium finishes, the Hounds were solid in the placings and battled to the end...in the Team Competition, we took 2nd place in the much larger 13-team Division 1 field this year and look to be in the hunt for the season overall! Once again, congratulations are in order for the whole team and our support crew. See below for the detailed race results and photos from the event...
