OJR mountain biking enters 2nd season

Young cyclists compete in scenic races around the state

POTTSTOWN » The Owen J. Roberts Mountain Biking Team (OJRMTB) will kick off their second season, racing school teams from all around Pennsylvania.

In 2016, the inaugural season for the Pa. league, OJRMTB had eighteen athletes and five coaches. This year the team has grown to an impressive forty racers and ten coaches.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling League (PICL), including teams from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, has almost doubled in size this year as well and now boasts 36 school affiliated and composite teams.

With the mission to “provide fun, safe, and competitive mountain biking opportunities for middle and high school students in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania”, PICL operates under the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) who promotes the development of interscholastic mountain biking leagues throughout the United States. In some states NICA has seen scholastic mountain bike racing eclipse football in popularity.

The OJR team has been practicing hard all summer at Coventry Woods Park in North Coventry Township, building endurance and learning skills that will help them compete

while having a lot of fun doing it.

“Our main goal is to make sure every single athlete is enjoying themselves,” says head coach Dusty Stone.

“Unlike a lot of team stick and ball sports,” adds Stone, an active mountain bike racer himself, “cycling is something these kids can do for their entire lives and that makes a huge difference. We’re not just teaching the kids skills to race but sharing a passion that can actually improve lives!”

The team, a non-PIAA school club for athletes in grades 6 through 12, encourages all fans of Owen J. Roberts athletics to attend one of the exciting races and to watch and cheer as OJRMTB continues to grow and succeed.

For more information, please visit the OJRMTB website at ojrmtb.com Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling League at pamtb.org and the National Interscholastic Cycling Association at nicamtb.org

SUBMITTED PHOTO Head Coach Dusty Stone leads an OJRMTB practice, preparing the team to compete against scholastic mountain bikers across the state in five big event races September through October.