----- Forwarded Message ----
From: League
Director
<fritz@socaldirt.org>
To: raggy23@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday,
April 1, 2009 10:25:59 AM
Subject: PRESS
RELEASE: SOCAL HIGH SCHOOL GETS VELODROME
PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, April 1, 2009
SOCAL HIGH SCHOOL GETS VELODROME AND TRACK RACING PROGRAM
Contact: Matt Fritzinger,
fritz@socaldirt.org,
(510) 653-2453,
www.socaldirt.org
Cedar Glen, CA Last night, with a 7-2 vote, the school board of
Mountain Top High School approved the construction of the first ever
high school velodrome and scholastic track program in America. The
decision serves as a historic milestone in the main-streaming of
competitive cycling in secondary schools across the state of
California. While high school mountain biking has been picking up steam
since 2001 with the formation of the NorCal High School Mountain Bike
Racing League, track racing looks to be the next alternative for high
schoolers eager for sports that suit their short attention spans.
"Mountain biking is an endurance sport and except for the occasional
sprint finish, it favors athletes with slow-twitch muscles leaving
young cyclists with the genetic gift of more fast-twitch muscles
feeling devalued. I'm very pleased to see this new discipline brought
into the schools," commented Matt Fritzinger, director of the Northern
California mountain biking program.
In what may draw some criticism, the velodrome will replace the
astro-turf field and football program. MTHSs Head football Coach, Don
Boggs commented "I'm keeping an open mind here. After two losing
seasons, I don't get much say around here anyway. I'm also very
impressed with the way cycling is addressing the problem of performance
enhancing drugs." Unlike professional football, which penalizes wealthy
players with meager fines and has led to a vast abuse of steroids at
the high school level, professional and amateur bike racers face 2-4
year bans from the sport.
School Superintendant, Jim Swift, said I advocated for this as soon as
I saw the cost-benefit analysis. A velodrome is going to cost $1.8
trillion whereas a stadium retrofit and new astroturf was going to cost
us $1.9 trillion. That may seem like a small difference, but that's
actually $100 billion dollars. We can buy quite a few books and
computers for that much money.
Additionally, it appears that track racing will become a natural
complement to the recently inaugurated Socal Interscholastic Cycling
League that only includes mountain biking currently. Board president
Quintin Easton commented, Im stoked - we put the generic term
'cycling' in the League name because we planned to incorporate various
disciplines into the League. This velodrome is a dream come true!
About the Southern California Interscholastic Cycling League
The SoCal Interscholastic Cycling League was organized to
provide a well-defined race season for junior racers and to promote the
formation of teams at public and private high schools. With the
cooperation of local race promoters and our sponsors, the League
organizes a first class series of races designed for high school aged
riders. The League is working to make high school racing the easiest
way for juniors to get involved in the challenging and exciting world
of competitive cycling. The SoCal League was founded with a generous
grant from the Easton Sports Development Foundation II (ESDF II) and is
supported by other generous sponsors such as founding national sponsor
Specialized Bicycle Components, results cranked out by Shimano, Bike
Magazine, CLIF Bar, Crank Brothers, Hincapie Sportswear, Tifosi, Trek,
and WTB. For more information on the League, contact Quintin Easton at quintin@socaldirt.org
and 949.285.0316 Website: http://www.socaldirt.org
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