Sam Altom, a Ridgeline High School Junior on the mountain biking team, won his race in Richfield, Utah, on Saturday, September 10th. The race course was around 5.7 miles with only 300 feet of climb per lap. Since there wasn’t much climbing, the course was really fast and the racers were averaging lap times just over 20 minutes. Altom had to do 2 laps for his category, so his finishing time was under 45 minutes.

Racing in the JVC category, Sam started “third place” out of 82 other racers. After being asked what helped motivate him during the race, Sam said, “I pushed hard to get to first, and I didn’t want to lose the position that I had”. He also said that it was a tough race because everyone was going at a very fast pace. The course was also extremely dusty and lots of corners were loose according to Sam.

Altom said that he trains “three-ish times a week sometimes more” and that his favorite trails to ride in the valley are Providence or Green Canyon. He says that during his practices, he pushes himself to go faster and faster and that the more he rides the more he excels during the races.

In region one, there are 15 different schools that compete. In the whole state, there are 6 regions. At the end of the race day, Ridgeline High School finished in 5th place in region one. In total, they earned 1611 points. Most of these points came from the student athletes that placed well. These athletes include Bridger Baugh, Sam Altom, Ryder Bishop, Anders Petersen, and Tanner Jacobson. All of these riders placed in the top 25 of their category. The next race for region one is on September 24, in Mantua, Utah.

Many racers from Ridgeline are looking forward to the next race because it is close to the valley, so they are able to ride pre-ride the course many times before next Saturday. This course is also fast, however, not as fast as Richfield’s according to Tanner Jacobson.