The Killington Mountain School Cycling team hosted a home mountain bike race Saturday Sept. 20 as a part of the Lakes Region Interscholastic Mountain Bike Series at Pine Hill Park, in Rutland. Pine Hill Park is a 300 acre gem, located just 20 minutes away from KMS, with 16 miles of single track trails, all created and maintained by volunteers.
The field included private and public schools from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
The course was fast and flowy, and KMS cyclists Turner Ramsay and Ian Clarke conquered the trails with skill and determination. Ramsay held off the entire women’s field, maintaining the lead until an unfortunate flat rear tire ended her race. Meanwhile, Ian Clarke showed everyone that he has been sneaking some time on his mountain bike. Not only did he display his signature strength and endurance, he also displayed impressive bike-handling skills as he rode to the second place spot on the podium in the Men’s B Field.
On Sunday Sept. 21, Turner Ramsay, Ian Clarke, Noah Barrow, Jonah Mead-VanCort, and Chris Clarke all headed down to Troy, N.Y. for the the Uncle Sam Cyclocross Grand Prix. Coach Ramsay reported, “It was a fun course with a nice mixture of technical and power sections, and very dry conditions–the KMS kids actually complain if there isn’t at least a little bit of mud!”
Ian Clarke pulled off a fourth place finish in the Cat 3/4 field, and Noah Barrow rode to a nice 12th place finish. In the Women’s Pro/1/2/3 field, Turner Ramsay rode to a top-ten finish, sprinting across the line to take ninth.
Next, the team headed to Kennett High School in North Conway, N.H. on Wednesday Sept. 24, for the Lakes Region Interscholastic MTB series #3,where they posted some impressive results. The race consisted of three laps on a 2.5 mile course, a course that was filled with technical ups and downs. Noah Barrow attacked the leaders’ group on the final lap and rode away to win the Men’s A race. Turner Ramsay rode a solid race and took the second step on the podium in the Women’s A race.
