They arrived on four wheels or more to race on two wheels.
The North Carolina Interscholastic Cycling League began its fourth season Sunday at Browns Creek Bike Park & Nature Trail.
About 600 middle school and high school riders from about 60 teams from throughout the state competed in five divisions, winding their way through portions of the seven miles of mountain biking trails at the Elizabethtown venue.
There were races for middle school boys and girls, high school freshmen and junior varsity, high school girls and high school varsity boys. Results will be posted when available.
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Sunday’s field was almost double the number of riders when NCICL held its first race at Browns Creek in 2018. There were 333 entries among 37 teams and an estimated 800 people in attendance two years, said Mike Long, who is the lead director for the organization.
There were an estimated 2,000 people, along with several family pets, roaming Browns Creek on Sunday. Many people had arrived Saturday to get a look at the course and prepare, then camped overnight Saturday.
“The growth is best described as viral,” said Long, during a break from staging riders for their races. “Our first year we had 321 kids registered in the league. We are currently sitting at 885.
“We kind of figured we’d plateau at some point, but that has not happened. Every year it’s easily another 150 to 200 more racers signing up to do this. Logistics are a challenge. It’s a great problem to have,” he said.
The parking lot was packed Sunday morning with hundreds of vehicles. Teams had their tents set up near the staging area. Some riders took advantage of an hour delay in the start of the races to try an obstacle course or do some jumps on some nearby hills before tackling the climbs, switchbacks, hills and berms on the race course. The scheduled 9 a.m. start of the first race was delayed because of ice on bridges in shaded areas of the course.
“Browns Creek is such a fantastic place to come,” Long said. “This field (for parking) is a big reason why we are able to do this event.
“Having this space and the support from the local community is fantastic. Cape Fear SORBA maintains the course and are amazing. It really makes it possible for us to try to bring this mountain bike program across the state. We really want to partner with these local communities. We want people to realize that Elizabethtown is a great place to be.”
The league’s next event is scheduled March 22 at Salisbury Community Park. Other races are scheduled April 5 at Quaker Lake Camp in Climax, April 19 at Dark Mountain in Wilkesboro and the state championship May 3 at Ferris Memorial Park in Mayodan.
For more information about the North Carolina Interscholastic Cycling League, go to www.northcarolinamtb.org/.
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