STRATHAM – It’s been a fun ride for the Portsmouth High School cycling team this season, on and off the terrain courses.
“It’s been going great this year, we have a larger team than we’ve had in recent years past,” Portsmouth sophomore Iliya Ramadanovic said. “We’ve got strong racers throughout all categories, and great coaches too, making it all happen.”
As Ramadanovic spoke on the success on the team, and how having a larger team has greatly contributed to that, he shared the connection off the field.
“It’s a great community, It’s always nice to show up to practice,” he added. “Everyone is working hard and they’re very nice.”
“I think it’s really kind of grown,” Portsmouth High School interim head coach Gregg Cote said of the constant rise of the Clippers’ cycling team over the years. “Now we’re starting to get these kids now, who were in fourth, fifth or sixth grade and they were doing what was called ‘Seacoast Velo’ back then. They’ve been doing this for seven, eight years, and now we’re seeing the whole mountain bike experience has gotten much bigger for these kids. The young kids getting involved in mountain bikes is just huge for us.”
The cycling team had a good showing at a recent race on its home course at Stratham Hill Park.
“It went well,” Cote said. “Maybe not as well as we have in the past, but that’s OK. We have a younger team, but we have a lot of kids. It was fun, it was a good day for the kids.”
The event was separated into three 8-mile races – A, B and C. Typically, the fastest riders compete in the A race, and so forth.
Portsmouth scored 471.16 points and placed second in the 12-team event which featured teams from across New Hampshire and Massachusetts. St. John’s Prep (Mass.) placed first with a score of 481.31. Ramadanovic placed fourth in the A race with a time of 45 minutes, 44.6 seconds.
“(Ramadanovic) is showing some serious potential,” Cote said.
Four more Portsmouth racers placed sixth through ninth, respectively in the 26-participant race. Noah Lane (45:49.8) was sixth, Gabe Weinrieb (45:50.7) was seventh, Kai Paterson (45:59.6) was eighth and Brigham Ellis (47:52.7) was ninth.
Portsmouth’s Darragh Boulbol (49:04.5) was 13th and Max Shorter (52:23.0) was 19th.
Speaking in general of all three of the separate races, Cole said this was the first time in the 10-year history of the program that the Clippers had racers in each group.
“We have a number of kids in each of the groups, so they were very much working together,” Cole said. “As they get up to the (faster) A group, working as a team is more beneficial. Over the years, we usually have only one or two A racers, so they don’t really get to work as a team. So, having a bunch of good racers in the A is going to serve them well.”
“It was a lot of fun,” Ramadanovic said of the home course. “I think having it be our home course played to our strengths a lot.”
Portsmouth’s Ben Croteau placed first in the B race in with a time of 48:47.3. Additionally, Portsmouth’s Beckett Hickey (52:11.0) was seventh, Sam Lajeunesse (56:15.4) was 15th, Jarek L’Abbe (56:31.6) was 16th, Colin Garcia de Paredes (57:29.1) was 17th, John Flynn (58:42.9) was 18th, Charlie Ruedig (1:00:33.3) was 21st and Max Baum (1:00:46.6) was 23rd.
Portsmouth’s Jesse Court placed second in the C race in a time of 30:19. Teammates Jack Tilley (31:28.8) was seventh, Finn Moore (32:16.6) was 15th, Hamish O’Hare (33:38.8) was 23rd and Dorian Gass (33:40.0) was 24th.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Growing Portsmouth High School cycling team ‘doing great’ this season
“It’s been going great this year, we have a larger team than we’ve had in recent years past,” Portsmouth sophomore Iliya Ramadanovic said. “We’ve got strong racers throughout all categories, and great coaches too, making it all happen.”
As Ramadanovic spoke on the success on the team, and how having a larger team has greatly contributed to that, he shared the connection off the field.
“It’s a great community, It’s always nice to show up to practice,” he added. “Everyone is working hard and they’re very nice.”
“I think it’s really kind of grown,” Portsmouth High School interim head coach Gregg Cote said of the constant rise of the Clippers’ cycling team over the years. “Now we’re starting to get these kids now, who were in fourth, fifth or sixth grade and they were doing what was called ‘Seacoast Velo’ back then. They’ve been doing this for seven, eight years, and now we’re seeing the whole mountain bike experience has gotten much bigger for these kids. The young kids getting involved in mountain bikes is just huge for us.”
The cycling team had a good showing at a recent race on its home course at Stratham Hill Park.
“It went well,” Cote said. “Maybe not as well as we have in the past, but that’s OK. We have a younger team, but we have a lot of kids. It was fun, it was a good day for the kids.”
The event was separated into three 8-mile races – A, B and C. Typically, the fastest riders compete in the A race, and so forth.
Portsmouth scored 471.16 points and placed second in the 12-team event which featured teams from across New Hampshire and Massachusetts. St. John’s Prep (Mass.) placed first with a score of 481.31. Ramadanovic placed fourth in the A race with a time of 45 minutes, 44.6 seconds.
“(Ramadanovic) is showing some serious potential,” Cote said.
Four more Portsmouth racers placed sixth through ninth, respectively in the 26-participant race. Noah Lane (45:49.8) was sixth, Gabe Weinrieb (45:50.7) was seventh, Kai Paterson (45:59.6) was eighth and Brigham Ellis (47:52.7) was ninth.
Portsmouth’s Darragh Boulbol (49:04.5) was 13th and Max Shorter (52:23.0) was 19th.
Speaking in general of all three of the separate races, Cole said this was the first time in the 10-year history of the program that the Clippers had racers in each group.
“We have a number of kids in each of the groups, so they were very much working together,” Cole said. “As they get up to the (faster) A group, working as a team is more beneficial. Over the years, we usually have only one or two A racers, so they don’t really get to work as a team. So, having a bunch of good racers in the A is going to serve them well.”
“It was a lot of fun,” Ramadanovic said of the home course. “I think having it be our home course played to our strengths a lot.”
Portsmouth’s Ben Croteau placed first in the B race in with a time of 48:47.3. Additionally, Portsmouth’s Beckett Hickey (52:11.0) was seventh, Sam Lajeunesse (56:15.4) was 15th, Jarek L’Abbe (56:31.6) was 16th, Colin Garcia de Paredes (57:29.1) was 17th, John Flynn (58:42.9) was 18th, Charlie Ruedig (1:00:33.3) was 21st and Max Baum (1:00:46.6) was 23rd.
Portsmouth’s Jesse Court placed second in the C race in a time of 30:19. Teammates Jack Tilley (31:28.8) was seventh, Finn Moore (32:16.6) was 15th, Hamish O’Hare (33:38.8) was 23rd and Dorian Gass (33:40.0) was 24th.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Growing Portsmouth High School cycling team ‘doing great’ this season