From November 23-27, junior Kylee Niederberger was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, participating in the Grand Nationals for competitive BMX racing.
According to Visit Tulsa, “The Grand Nationals bring in more than 3,600 athletes from all 50 states and 25 different countries, from amateurs to Olympic-level athletes.”
BMX is “called bicycle motocross and it is where you race bikes on a dirt track” and she states that she started racing BMX for about “roughly 12 years.” She continues to state that she began BMX racing because her “dad raced when he was younger.”
Her favorite part of the sport is when she gets to jump on the track and “fly through the air,” Niederberger says.
She continues to say that the hardest part is “the amount of training you have to do.” Niederberger said she competes at the top level, and she says that “it is a lot of work to be at the top level.”
Niederberger says that the ways she trains include “running, conditioning, working out, and practicing on the track in different ways,” and the closest tracks that she practices include being located in York and Chesapeake.
She says that to be able to compete in Nationals you have to compete in “individual qualifiers before the finals,” and the way to qualify is to place in the top 10, and then “you get invited to go to nationals.” Niederberger placed first in her qualifying competition.
At Nationals Niederberger she competed in the 15-16 Girls Expert class, and placed 5th. She competed against 54 other competitors, but her placing “was out of the whole nation.”
At Nationals she competed in an all girls class, but at smaller local competitions, she sometimes competes against girls and boys in her class.
She states that her favorite part of Nationals was “seeing her friends.”
Niederberger will be in Sarasota, Florida, in the beginning of January, competing in another competition.
