I hate John Hunt Park (The Cross Country course, at least) on a personal level. The long, imposing straightaways make the race feel much longer and slower than it actually is; there is almost no downhill for the first two miles, and if it’s raining the course is impossible to run on since it’s all grass.
Yet, the Mountain Biking course at John Hunt has been kind to our school. The team placed 3rd there recently, with many individuals achieving outstanding results. Kevin Harring (also a state-caliber Cross Country runner, for the record) performed the best out of everyone on the team, placing 3rd overall in the “JVI” section. Harring, having run and biked on John Hunt, had this to say about the course:
“The biking course is a 4.3 mile single track dirt course with rocks and some roots, with very fast downhills and jumps, and also two major climbs. While the XC course is a lot wider of a track, in addition, it is just grass and shorter with only one major climb.”
Harring wasn’t the only one who performed well at the meet. Here are the results of everyone on the team:
Freshman Boys:
Malcom Phillips – 8th
Nicolas Kessler – 48th
Jackson Stokes – 56th
Ori Forsmann – 69th
Kimber Riggle – 73rd
JVI Boys
Kevin Harring – 3rd
Jonathan Willett – 9th
JVII Boys
Nathan Gagne – 59th
Brendan McConnell – 68th
Matthew Riggle – 83rd
Out of all of those performances, Harring highlighted Phillip’s as particularly impressive.
“He [Phillips] had incredible placement, going from the high teens to 9th place, which is extremely difficult.”
On the subject of his own performance, Harring stated that,
“My race was very fun. I started in 13th place, and climbed my way up. There was much movement in the race, I led for about half a lap. However, I was eventually passed. I was in 2nd place for the majority of the race, however, 3rd place drafted me and shot past me on one of the last climbs.”
Lastly, Harring congratulated his team on an outstanding effort.
“I am very proud of the entire team. Everyone had high placement, and everyone worked really hard for it.”
All in all, a great result from the Bob Jones Mountain Biking Team!
