THE town of Bright in Victoria came alive when mountain bikers from around the country came to challenge the trails at the MBTA Nationals held at Mystic Park on 4-7 April 2019.

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The MBTA Nationals is a premier event on the mountain bike racing calendar.

Year 7 Medowie Christian School student William Ireland was amongst the competitors who made the trek to Bright for the event.

William was one of the youngest competitors in the 13-15 years age group but stepped up to the challenge against a strong field of experienced racers.

The Mystic Park downhill trail is one of the toughest tracks in Australia with several large jumps, vertical drops, tree roots and rocky sections for riders to navigate.

William’s campaign was not without incident with a crash in practice, however, he overcame this and rode brilliantly in his seeding run with a time or 4.20 minutes, the third quickest run down the mountain in his age group.

With seedings determining riding order, with slowest riding first, William was third last to ride on race day.

William made a smooth, fast run and finished with a time of 4.11 minutes, a substantial improvement from his seeding run.

A nail biting wait for the last two racers to complete their runs saw William take 2 nd place in the national competition.

“It’s a tough track plus the surface was loose which makes it even more difficult so I was happy with the way I rode.”
said William.

William will contest several large races including Rocky Trail Events and CannoNball Festival in 2019.

By Liz MUDD