SkiCross athlete finds mountain biking podium
Around Killington Mountain School, Mazie Hayden is probably best known for her success on the slopes as a SkiCross athlete, but this summer she has made a mark for herself in the downhill mountain biking world. Mazie recently traveled to Plattekill Mountain to compete in the Eastern States Cup Championship Downhill. This is the USAC Regional Championship for the East coast. Mazie and her family arrived Saturday morning to “sunny skies, peak foliage, a dry race course and warm temps.” Jason Hayden, Mazie’s father, shared a recap of the weekend: “Practice on Saturday was limited as the lift had 30-40 minute lines and crashes caused quite a few delays on the course. Plattekill is known worldwide for having some of the most challenging courses and they did not disappoint this weekend. The track had over a half dozen drops with the largest at about six feet, tight corners, rock gardens, and loose shale scattered everywhere.
Saturday night most of the racers camped in the parking lot for a giant pot luck dinner known as Platsgiving. There were fireworks, night biking and eventually, much to our chagrin, it started raining.
Sunday morning we awoke to our tent billowing in heavy wind, misty rain, and a delay for the final practice. When the lift finally opened Mazie was able to get in a couple more practice runs and was feeling pretty good about the course. The rocks and roots were slick from the rain but the rest of the course was holding up well with the cool temps and wind drying things out.
Mazie put down a decent race run and won by just two one hundredths of a second after a small scuffle with a tree on the course. This put Mazie in first place for the Championship, first place for New England, second place for the Atlantic series, and first place overall for the east coast. She also came away with the fastest clocked speed for amateur women for the day! It was a fantastic end to a great season of racing.
Mazie has been asked to join the Eastern States Cup North American Downhill Team. This is a UCI trade team and means that she will have automatic entries into Junior World Cup Downhill events next season.”
