ASHLAND — Nine kids who participated in an unlikely interscholastic sport for northeast Ohio— mountain biking — over the last few months were honored by their coaches Tuesday night at a banquet.
The group of young riders is small, but their abilities as racers and athletes blossomed over the four-month season, said Ashley Hendershot, the head coach of the Ashland Bike Project’s Team WILD programs.
Team WILD is one of 13 teams across the state’s newly formed Ohio Mountain Bike League, which is under the auspices of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association league.
It’s designed for middle and high school students who are interested in racing mountain bikes at various venues across the state. The league’s season starts in July and wrapped its third season earlier this month.
Hendershot said she is proud of how far the athletes have come, mentioning the team itself was awarded by NICA the top spot in its division. Individual riders did pretty well, too.
Charlie Hovey, a freshman in high school, won fifth overall for the year. His brother, William, earned fourth overall.
Several other riders also broke personal records and finished on the podium during the season.
“We really wanted to focus on what it meant to be on a team, as well as improving their bike skills,” Hendershot said, adding she was worried about the goal because of the addition of more riders on the team. Would they mesh? she wondered.
“From the very first practice, these kids showed us we had nothing to worry about,” she said.
Hendershot, an accomplished E-MTB racer, started the program shortly after being hired to work at Ashland Bike Company, which is affiliated with Ashland Bike Project.
From the start, the goal was to provide a different extracurricular activity for youth — and adults.
With the financial support of the Norma Foundation, the group got to work on building mountain biking trails in woods of Brookside Park West. A dirt pump track followed. The trails at the park, along with the pump track, serve as a practice arena for Team WILD members.
“And our trails are pretty tough,” said Tony Bunt, owner of Ashland Bike Company. “That’s why our kids did so well this year in competitions — they were practicing on all that tough stuff.”
The introduction of mountain biking as an interscholastic sport in Ohio followed upward trends in popularity with the sport in general over the last several years.
And mountain biking is expected to keep growing. The market research company NPD Group showed sales of front-suspension mountain bikes were up 150% in spring of 2020. In June of the same year, sales of more expensive full-suspension mountain bikes surged 92%.
NICA started in 2001 in Northern California. Since then, it has expanded to 29 other states with thousands of athletes represented. In Utah, mountain biking is one of the state’s fastest growing high school sports.
The sport’s popularity, in general, is also growing in Ohio. The state’s Department of Natural Resources opened around six miles of new trails at Mohican State Park earlier this month.
Annette Hruby, executive director of the Norma Foundation, said she’s all in for the sport’s growth in Ashland and the area.
“Seeing the growth of these kids, that’s what this is all about. The energy in these kids, and the joy, it’s just amazing,” she said.
