Armstrong, MLK riders show talent and tenacity in second race of the season

Richmond Cycling Corps and the MLK MS Cycling Team, the Armstrong Cycling Team, and the Legacy 2020 Team hit the trails at Forest Hill Park on Tuesday for the 2nd of 5 races in the 2016 Virginia High School Mountain Bike Series. Korey from MLK grabbed a personal-best 4th place finish, and Armstrong’s Antonio snagged a spot on the podium with a 3rd place finish in the JV race.

Photos below of the JV race and the environment around the races.

From Richmond Cycling Corps:

VA High School Race #2, Forest Hill Richmond….So Much Grit!
I think it’s safe to say that this evening’s race at Forest Hill was perhaps the best yet for the RCC Crew of 15. There was so much tenacity and self control in light of numerous setbacks.
Result highlights include Korey finally getting his top-5 Middle School Boys race…in fact, he got 4th in a sprint at the line! For the past two race seasons Korey has been close, but tonight he finally got it.
Antonio stomped his way to a 3rd place in the JV Boys division…out of nearly 100 racers!!!
Davonte (aka NuNu), our newest Armstrong rider, almost nabbed a top 10– we think 11th or 12th overall (again out of nearly 100 athletes).
JaQuise, our sole Varsity rider, mustered up another result somewhere in the top 14.
Now, back to that tenacity thing. From the first race of the day, Middle School Boys, we had 4 new MLK Middle School riders complete their first race, and they all made the time cut to continue on to do 2 laps. Big shout out to Matt Kuhn, who’s been coaching the MLK crew this year twice a week since early March. They were impressive in all aspects of mountain biking, and never once was it an option to quit.
In the JV Boys race, Lavone got a 2nd row start, and was driving hard on the first lap, when his chain came off and jammed up. He got off, fixed it, lost position to nearly 60 riders, but never gave up. He stayed patient, passed riders when he could, and finished up the job.
Darrell flatted at the end of his first lap of the JV Boys race. He was sitting in the top 12 when it happened. We’ve never seen a kid do this, but he rode a rear flat tire for an entire lap. When he passed we asked him what he wanted to do: “I haven’t given up yet, no sense in quitting now” he yelled back. Darrell finished after riding over 3 difficult miles of mountain biking on a flat tire (without destroying the wheel!).
Finally, in the Varsity Boys race, JaQuise got himself into great position at the start, and crashed within the first mile…hard. He crashed again soon after. His left hand and shoulder were pretty tore up, and he was now in last place against the fastest kids in the state.
Incredibly frustrated, he got himself up, refocused, and went after it harder than any kid we’ve seen…for four laps! He passed 13 riders, and nabbed his best Varsity result yet. It was emphatically, one of the proudest moments in watching our youth race. Unbelievable.

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