Gunnedah-based Reggie Stewart overcame a setback and powered her way to third place in an U9 female event at the NSW Schools MTB XCO Championships in Newcastle last Thursday.
The U9 cross country event featured 17 female and 54 male riders, all of whom launched together which created a fast, crowded and highly competitive opening while it was Reggie’s first mountain bike championship race.
Reggie was knocked off her bike at one stage, but she quickly jumped back on the bike and secured the last of the podium placings while also achieving the fastest lap time among the U9 girls.
With each rider required to complete three laps while the loop was just under 3km, Reggie recorded times of 7:44, 9:28 and 6:30 to finish the course in a time of 23 minutes and 41 seconds.
The first placegetter finished with a race time of 21:15 following lap times of 7:55, 6:20 and 7:01.
A student at St Xavier’s Primary School, Reggie found herself against pupils from schools including Merewether Heights Public, Newcastle Grammar, Central Coast Adventist, Dudley Public, Wallsend South, and St Mary’s (Warners Bay).
School types included Government, Catholic, Independent, Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) and Christian Schools Sports Association (CSSA).
Reggie was the highest placed rider from the Catholic school type in the U9 girls cross country, with the winner and runner-up from the Government and Independent types respectively.
