Coal Hills riders excel at Harbour City Nationals

Coal Hills riders excel at National race

Lisa Chase (Sent to the Record and the Echo)

On the heels of the World BMX Championships, the Harbor City Nationals were held in Nanaimo on Aug 3-5. Several Coal Hills riders fared well during the weekend of racing. During Friday night racing, many of the riders came home carrying trophies that were almost as big as they were.

In the Intermediate 6 class, it was Aidan Webber who raced hard and came away with three second place finishes. Serena Smythe picked up a first in the Novice 7 class in Friday night racing. With some tough competition in this class, it was Braydon Nickel who was pleased with his two third place trophies in the Novice 7 division. Zach Toovey, who is only 7 years old had to race up in the Intermediate 8 class. He raced hard and came away with a couple of 5th place finishes. In the Novice 9 class it was Ethan Woodland’s day as he captured three first place trophies over the weekend in the Novice 9 class. The wins over the weekend bring him very close to moving up to the Intermediate class. Emily Toovey, who just started racing did exceptionally well in the sane age class, taking home three third place trophies

It was two local boys battling it out for the top spot in the Intermediate 9 boy’s class. Jett Heppell took home a first place trophy in Friday night racing and two second place trophies over the weekend. Just behind him, it was Yuriah Kaska who managed a second place in Friday night racing and two third place finishes to round out the weekend.

Moving up a class just before a big race can be difficult, but Chris Devito took it all in stride. He gave it his all during his races and brought home a third place finish in Friday night racing. Scott MacDonald also just recently moved up to the Expert 9 class making it a challenging weekend of racing in his new division. Jacob Weibe was in with some tough competitors in the 13 Intermediate class and moved from third place in his final race to first in a matter of seconds as two riders collided on course to knock each other out. Weibe also took another first in a prior race.

Racing runs in the family, as sister Aliesha worked hard for her 3rd place trophy in the girls 10 age class.

Rounding out the weekend racing in the 16 Expert class was Torry Slater who grabbed a second place finish on Fri. and a 4th and 5th place finish on Sat./Sun. In the same class, Justin Mudge put in some good racing over the weekend and came home with a third place trophy in the 16 Expert during Fri. racing.

Overall, it was a great weekend of racing with local riders doing very well in competition.