Troy had a great time and his second trip to Vermont for the National Championships. This year Troy competed in the 11-12 age category and was at an age disadvantage since he’s only 10. We knew that it would be very completive and were very happy that he got on the podium for both events—XC and DH.
He had around 20 kids in XC and it was a tough short race with steep climbs. Troy’s friend Cameron won the gold medal and Troy was very happy for him. His brother Evan took 3rd place and he’s only 10 so it was a great accomplishment for him also. Congrats to Casey, the oldest brother for winning the 13/14 age group!!!
The downhill was nothing like last year. It was not very technical but VERY fast with some wide open downhill with rocks and water bars to make the course very challenging. We had trouble keeping Troy’s feet on the pedals (from the high speed bumps) so we decided before the race to run clipless pedals which worked great.
The DH run took Troy about 5 mins 22 seconds. Troy missed first place by about 10 seconds and 2nd place by 1.5 seconds. Both of the competitors were extremely good downhillers -12 and 11 years old. The winner was from Utah and the runner up from Colorado.
Next year the championships are in Colorado and Troy wants to come home with a stars and stripes jersey!!!!
