The O’Dowd Mountain Bike team kicked off the 2018 high school mountain bike season on February 24 at Fort Ord in Monterey County. The Dragons race in the Norcal League-South Conference, which consists of 23 Division II schools and over 400 racers.
The trails at Fort Ord provided a unique, but fun challenge for the Dragon racers covering 5.5 miles and over 500 feet of climbing each lap. The JV girls were first, competing in one of the biggest girls’ fields covering two laps. Charlotte Low ’18, Elise Cypher ’19, Mia Rahman ’19 and Bella Walters ’19 all completed the race finishing 21st, 23rd, 29th and 36th respectively. This was Bella’s first-ever mountain bike race! The freshman women were next with Lily O’Hare ’21 finishing on the podium in 4th place in her first race.
Freshman and sophomore boys were represented by Andrew Fee ’21 and Matthew Justice ’20. After a brief crash Andrew moved quickly up through the freshman field to finish 17th, and Matthew had a strong race finishing 9th. As the morning turned to the afternoon, the varsity boys raced four laps of the course covering over 20 miles and 2,000 feet of climbing in less than 1 _ hours. Caleb O’Hare ’18, O’Dowd’s sole varsity rider, didn’t disappoint, finishing 11th.
Next up for the Dragons is Race #2, on March 10th at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey.
Caleb O’Hare ’18 on course during the varsity race.
Matthew Justice ’20 getting ready for the sophomore race.
Charlotte Low (’18) crossing the finish line.