Middle School Race Report – Silver City, NM
Nine 15 athletes on the Taos Composite middle school mountain bike team were able to make the long trip to Silver City, NM for the New Mexico Interscholastic Cycling League’s first race of the 2025 season. Four first-time racers competed: Elijah and Augustus Blankenhorn-Johnston, Malcolm Breier, and Troy Edmiston. Veteran racers included Case Cook, Larka Schultz, Ama Mithoefer, June Thornton, and Kalia Velarde. The families converged at the camping area in a goat head filled field at the race venue. The middle school course was just under 4 miles of a mix of double track, singletrack, and a wee bit of pavement. Flat, fast, with two very small uphills plus several sandy sections kept everyone entertained on the pre-ride the day before the race. With the race day weather forecast looking like a high likelihood of thunderstorms and rain in the afternoon, the team was happy that all middle school races would be happening in the morning.
First up were the middle school boys with our 2 eighth graders competing in the more advanced 8th grade A race with 2 laps of the course. Case Cook had a strong start and rode consistently for both laps to finish on the podium in 5th place. First time racer, Troy Edmiston, was brave and jumped into the 2-lap race, showing his athleticism and tenacity (6th place).
New racers Malcom Breier and Augustus Blankenhorn-Johnston represented Taos in the seventh grade race. After the race, Malcolm was really grateful to his coach, Harper Higdon (former Taos Composite varsity racer) for teaching him how to corner and said it really helped him. Augustus was happy to report that once he settled in and found his rhythm, he was able to pass some people. Malcolm finished 9th and Augustus finished 12th in the largest field of the day.
Elijah Blankenhorn-Johnston was the only Taos 6th grader and made the most of his 1-lap race with determination and a smile. He enjoyed passing some other riders and finished 6th in his first race ever.
Leading off the start for the Taos girls, Larka Schultz showed her experience and skills in the 8th grade A race. When she came through after her first lap, Larka was passed by a rider who she was able to pass back on the small hill. According to Larka, they went back and forth a couple of times before she was able to get a gap on the second and final hill to take the win by almost 30 seconds. The 7th grade girls race did not disappoint with Kalia Velarde starting at the front and staying there for her entire lap to win by 11 seconds. June Thornton was not far behind, finishing in 4th less than a minute behind Kalia. Ama Mithoefer also had a great race, using her strength to power to 6th place, less than 30 seconds behind 5th place.
As the team waited through the afternoon for awards, a crazy thunderstorm stalled out causing flash flooding on the course and postponing the podium and awards until the next race in Gallup on September 20. We look forward to having more of the 15 person team at the Gallup race.
Taos Composite was generously sponsored by the Breier Family and Civic Tech Solutions for this race weekend. Thank you! And thank you to all parents and siblings for the help and positive vibes throughout the weekend!
