Congratulations to the Mackay Christian College for taking out the “Rocky Trail Academy Champion School Title” in the Central Queensland Schools MTB Comp on Friday in Mackay! With schools from across Mackay participating in the event we had students visiting from as far as Townsville, Rockhampton and the Whitsundays!
Event Report by Bob Morris
So, the question is how do you make a success of MTB programs in a high school and the answer is passionate kids, supportive parents and amazing teachers… And so it is in Mackay with kids who love to ride, Parents who love their seeing their kids having fun, and teachers like Pete (Mackay Christian Collage), Ben (Mercy College Mackay), Lucy (Mackay State High School) and more who support, encourage and do the mountain of work in the background to make success happen. We thank the teachers, parents, and kids from all of the 8 schools who attended Rowallan MTB Park for all the work they did to make Central Queensland’s Rocky Trail Academy such a success.
Mackay seems to be a hot bed of female mountain bike talent and with about 15% of the field female. Schools got a real boost in the points table by encouraging their female riders to compete.
Cleo Mcleod, Willow Mason and Skye Duncan all from Mackay Christian College stood atop the podium in the Senior Female category earning maximum bonus points for the School.
Kristen Rowlands from Mercy College Mackay, Danica Cromb from Mackay State High School and Trinity Hutt from Rockhampton Grammar School shared the bonus points in the female intermediate category. Kristen was the fastest female on all tracks and the fastest female overall. She is a real talent and will go well at a national level with some luck and persistence.
Local Remy Vella from Mackay Christian College and Charlize Penny from The Cathedral School in Townsville earnt points for their schools in the Junior Female category.
All of the girls had fun and loved the lack of pressure the relaxed Rocky Trail Academy provided.
In the Male categories the bonus points were more evenly spread but there were smiles for miles as all boys tested the limits. Will Kelly and Jared Havemann from Mackay Christian College and Travis Hutt from Rockhampton Grammar School were the in the Senior Male category.
Ethan Weiss from Mackay State High School, Lockie Bourke and Edward Spicer from Mercy College Mackay shared bonus points in the Intermediate Male category. Ethan was the fastest on all tracks and fastest rider of the day overall as well. This was not unexpected as he is a national champion and Rowallan Park is his main training ground.
John Jones Trifelly from Mercy College Mackay, Ethan Jansen of Holy Spirit College and Corry Harrison from Mackay Christian College shared the bonus points for their schools.
So all those points tallied to give Mackay Christian College first place with 271points, Mercy College Mackay in second with 145 points, and Mackay State High School on 122 points taking third. Peter Lister is the head of the Mountain Bike program at Mackay Christian College and has been instrumental in the growth of Mountain Biking in the Mackay region especially within the schools. “Relaxed format meant kids could choose the tracks they want to ride and when they wanted to ride them. Kids were self-motivated so teachers only had to guide and support and needed to do very little marshalling”. School MTB Captains Nekesha Chohan and Dylan Ford thanked the other schools for coming out and racing and thanked his school and teachers for giving them the opportunity to compete at the Rocky Trail Academy.
All race photos are now online via the Outer Image Collective online portal, they are included in the entries – download them now and share your awesome school day out on ‘rocky trails’ with eeeeeveryone! #rockytrailentertainment
Race photos:
Photos from the race are now online on the Outer Image Collective portal! Remember, they are included in your entry, so download them now!
Use #rockytrailracer and #rockytrailacademy so we can follow your race stories!
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RESULTS
Check out detailed results via the link below – don’t forget to download your results and podium certificate! Simply click on your name to see all race times and then select it to download (via the pop-up window).
All results are available via
https://rockytrailentertainment.com/rocky-trail-academy/academy-mackay/results-academy-mackay/
For all 2021 venues, dates & event information visit
https://rockytrailentertainment.com/home/calendar-of-events/
Media photos:
Photos may be used for free with image credits “Photo: Rocky Trail/OuterImage.com.au” for coverage of Rocky Trail events only. For more information, interview opportunities or high-res images for news coverage, please contact our Marketing Director Juliane Wisata on 0416 737 972 or via email juliane@rockytrailentertainment.com
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