On Friday, November 2, the first-ever bike race to take place at a Nebraska high school football game happened during half time of the play-off game between Westside and Millard West. Check out this video to hear and see the excitement as the athletes raced around the Westside’s stadium running track.
Varsity racers, Elise Choquette & Parker LeFebvre for Westside and Xavier Seng & Beth Vawter from Millard West volunteered for this exhibition relay race to help spread the word about the Nebraska Interscholastic Cycling Series, now in its 5th year, to other area youths and parents.
The idea was inspired by a video posted to Facebook by the Minnesota High School Cycling team showing two boys battling it out during halftime. NICS wanted to let everyone know that boys and girls can join, so a relay race where the two girls raced in the first wave and then the boys made sense. Though the NICS competes on dirt trails around the area in the fall, racing on the school’s track was a great way to showcase the sport and that racing bikes is fun and exciting.
The founders of the league, Ryan and Nathan Moseley were a strategic part of the success of this concept. Nathan is a teacher at Westside and once it was determined that the two schools would be facing off, he worked with parents, administrators and district officials to make it all happen. Other coaches were on the track to assure the track stayed clear. Ryan Feagan, race promoter of the Series, was on the mic in the announcer’s booth. It was an exciting match up and the crowd responded by cheering for their classmates as they went past the stands.
That’s exactly the response NICS expected to happen.
Nebraska Interscholastic Cycling Series 