SoCal High School Mountain Bike League Sees An Attendence Increase At Round 2

Despite some wintry weather, attendance was up for Round 2 of the budding SoCal Interscholastic Cycling League’s 2009 race series. The event was held Sunday at Warner Springs Ranch, 40 miles east of Temecula.

High rainfall so far this year had given these rolling hills an emerald green hue, but rain falling in sheets on race day, driven by 20 mph winds, added to the multiple challenges of rocks and thickets of prickly pears punctuating the 4.5 mile course.

“This was mountain biking at its finest,” said Quintin Easton, president of the SoCal League. “After word went around about the first round of the series, we still had a 15 percent increase in rider numbers here – most notably in the girls fields, where we saw double the number over Round 1. This is real mountain biking, not an indoor spin class. The weather didn’t stop anybody.”

The SoCal series is funded primarily by the Easton Sports Development Foundation. With two rounds of this four-race series remaining, there is much still to race for, and Easton knows of other teams that will be joining the league.

Young riders from more than 20 high schools and several independent riders competed in Fresh/Soph, Junior Varsity, and Varsity categories.

Teams

Thanks to a very strong Junior Varsity girls team, Hemet High School won the day with 1,556 points. Not far behind was the Newport Beach composite team with 1,507 to take second place. However, Newport still leads the series with 3,004 points to Hemet’s 2,571. Yucaipa High School now lies third with 2,457 points. The top three results drawn from both genders (one boy and two girls, or two boys and one girl) are used to calculate the team results at each round.

Varsity Boys

Garrett Garcia (Independent) led the race in the opening mile or so, but took a header on a descent and was unable to get back to the leaders. He finished third, behind winner Zachary Valdez. The result sees Garcia and Valdez tied for the series lead on 1071 points, with Eric Landman (Independent) close behind at 1070.

Varsity Girls

Once again, Tiana Row (Independent) was the sole Varsity competitor, but she had some company from the JV and Frosh/Soph girls for part of the race, and towards the end of the first lap felt the presence of the talented Frosh/Soph rider Leila Carrillo (Newport Beach Composite), who once again outpaced all other girls except Row.

The SoCal racing program:
March 8, Vail Lake Challenge, Vail Lake Resort, Temecula, California
March 22, Warner Ranch Roundup, Warner Springs, California
April 5, Arrowhead Challenge, Lake Arrowhead, California
May 3, Cow Pie Invitational, Santa Ynez, California

FILED UNDER: News TAGS: SoCal Interscholastic Cycling League / Warner Springs Ranch