When Mercy College Mackay teacher Dee Meigan helped resurrect the school’s Mountain Bike Club last term, little did she anticipate the wave of success that would follow the batch of young riders.
Some 15 students answered her call to re-form the Club back in June and have made an immediate impact – clinching the overall Schools Championship Team Trophy at the Rocky Trail Mountain Bike Schools competition at Rowallen Park in Farleigh.
A combined Mercy College/St Patrick’s College team competed in the event on the last day of Term 2 and came away with a swag of medals including individual gold in the Junior Year 7/8 Girls and Intermediate Year 9/10 Boys and Girls categories.
Leading the way was exciting 15-year-old prospect Kristen Rowlands, who won the Year 9/10 Intermediate Girls title in courageous style against a strong field of riders.
Mountain bike riding is in Rowlands’ veins and the Year 10 starlet jumped at the chance to re-join the Club after competing on various tracks during her early years at Mercy College.
“Kristen was the first student to join our newly formed Club and what a dynamo she has proved to be on a mountain bike,” said PE teacher Dee, who has assembled an impressive squad.
“To win three individual titles plus the overall Schools Championship at our first meet is a tremendous feat”, she declared.
“It was an exciting day for our school with five students placing on the podium,” Dee added.
Other individual Mercy College winners were Kate Jones-Trifelly (Junior Year 7-8 Girls) and Edward Spicer (Intermediate Year 9-10 Boys) with silver medals to John Trifelly (Intermediate Year 9-10 Boys) and St Patrick’s rider Lockie Bourke (Senior Year 11/12 Boys).
The talented Rowlands, who has been riding mountain bikes competitively for five years, is an esteemed member of the Mackay & District (MAD) Mountain Bike Club where she has performed with distinction.
Kristen showed her class to take out the Paluma Push Marathon Juniors event and has now set her sights on the National Schools Mountain Bike Riding Championships to be staged at Nerang on the Gold Coast in September.
Other Mercy College riders that helped bring home the Rocky Trail Team Trophy were Kai Nicholson, Jackson McPherson, Pat Arbuthnot, Cooper Doyle, Liam Anderson, Jack Hurley, Charles Christensen, Louis Cauchi , Decklan Logan and Riley Meigan.
By Chris Karas
Mercy College Mountain Bike Club riders that won the Schools Championship Team Trophy at the Rocky Trail Mountain Bike Riding competition at Rowallen Park. Photos: Supplied
Mackay mountain bike riding champion Kristen Rowlands starred at the recent Rocky Trail competition– winning gold for Mercy College in the Intermediate Year 9-10 Girls event and Schools Championship Team Trophy
