When Michaela Hoskin jumps on her mountain bike at a race, the part she looks forward to most is the downhill stretch.
“The downhill was the most fun,” she wrote in an email. “Always is. Cumberland has a sick network of trails that have tons of flow and great features.”
And her enjoyment for racing her bike downhill shows.
The Grade 9 athlete from Don Ross Middle School was one of several Squamish cyclists who were able to secure a position on the podium during the BC High School Mountain Biking Championship in Cumberland late last month.
As a school, the Don Ross team came out third. Eleven medals were won between all the riders on the team, the school’s best showing in three years.
Hoskin managed to land in second place in both the cross-country and enduro events.
In enduro events, athletes are only timed for the downhill portions of the trails, as the race is broken down into a series of downhill stages.
At each stage, participants scan their timing chip just before their descent and once more as they reach the bottom.
It was a new format for Hoskin, who typically races in cross-country events.
“For me, it was challenging because being an XC racer. I’m used to kinda taking my breaks on the downhill,” she wrote. “I couldn’t do that in enduro. It was weird having the uphill as rest time.”
But that didn’t keep her from getting the silver.
Riding for Team Squamish, she’s raced almost every other weekend for the last three years. She plans on tackling the Cycling BC provincials next.
Ben Thompson, a Grade 8 rider at Don Ross Middle School, was another local athlete who managed to land on the podium during the event.
Landing second in his division’s enduro event, and making the top 10 out of the 50 racers in the cross-country event, Thompson managed to also put on a strong performance.
“I was pretty happy with that,” he wrote in an email about his silver medal in the enduro event.
Like Hoskin, Thompson also favours speeding downhill on his mountain bike, calling it his favourite part of the race.
Both Hoskin and Thompson were just a sample of Squamish athletes’ impressive performance during the event.
In the cross-country, the results spoke for themselves.
Sienna Dickson and Teigen Pascual managed to get first and second, respectively, in the Grade 8 girls’ division.
The enduro races also netted commanding performances.
Teigen Pascual grabbed gold and Sienna Dickson clutched the silver in the Grade 8 girls’ division.
Haydyn Wynter got third in the Grade 8 boys’ event.
Squamish, once again, did well when it came to the king and queen of the mountain rankings. The placements are determined by combining the times for both cross-country and enduro events. The shorter the combined time, the better the ranking.
Teigen Pascual grabbed first while Sienna Dickson nabbed second in the Grade 8 girls’ division.
Hoskin managed to get second in the Grade 9 girls’ rankings.
“I’m super proud of the kids. They did a fantastic job,” said coach Greg Day, who’s been in charge of the team for the last three years.
