Cochrane Bicycle Motocross (BMX) riders brought home 26 medals, including 14 gold, from Alberta BMX provincial races 3-4 at Lethbridge on July 25-26.
Nathan Vlahakis (6 novice) and Jaxon Ross (7 novice) won two gold medals each at the two-day meet.
Katie Scott (12 novice female) and Coralee Hilton (14 novice female) were also Cochrane double-gold medallists in Lethbridge.
Caleb Graham won double gold in boy’s 9 Intermediate riding.
“It was a great weekend. We had a really good showing from our riders,” said Cochrane BMX president Brad Christensen, who finish fifth and sixth in men’s 30-39 novice racing. “It was impressive watching it. It was fun.”
Cochrane’s Mason Pike won gold and silver in the 7 Intermediate division with Luke Christensen winning gold and silver in the 10 Novice class.
“Our young riders, our club is made up mostly of young riders, they have improved immensely. It’s fun to watch them go from balancing in the gate to just going full throttle down the stretch and into the corners. It’s impressive,” Brad Christensen related. “They’ve all improved so much. They’ve all set personal goals. Not just for gold, silver and bronze medals. But they are beating personal goals. It’s really fun to watch right now. We were the talk of Lethbridge. When you have the top 3 sweeping the podium, it’s pretty fun. The announcers are saying there must be something in the water in Cochrane.”
The youngsters are also getting pro tips from expert riders like Karsten Millman and Connor Murphy. Both coach the kids on Tuesday nights at Cochrane’s BMX track.
“Karsten has been super with the kids this year. And Connor Murphy. He’s only 14, but he’s an expert rider. He’s also helping out the really young kids,” Christensen said. “They really look up to these guys. You see the eyes on these kids and they all look up to these guys. Karsten’s doing a great job this year with our experienced riders.”
Xander Hamel won gold in boy’s 8 Novice; Draven Hamel took silver in boy’s 5 Intermediate; Cole Fisher too gold and bronze in boy’s 10 Novice; Ryley Carey won silver in boy’s 10 Novice; Sam Scott won silver in boy’s 9 intermediate; Brock Foster won silver and bronze in boy’s 9 Intermediate; Josh Hagel won bronze in boy’s 7 Novice; Caleb Carey won bronze in boy’s 7 Novice; Brett Fisher won bronze in boy’s 9 Novice and Sienna Foster won bronze in girl’s 9 Novice.
