Our Benson senior has come an extremely long way from “fluke-ing” his way to a win and never wishing to race again. He has continued to train his hardest with the support of his family, who paved the way for him to become a state champion and a national champion. Ezra is now planning to continue his career for as long as possible.
Ezra Brown–a Senior at Benson Polytechnic High School, the Oregon State winner for OBRA, (Oregon Bicycle Racing Association) and, the Oregon Varsity State winner for NICA, (National Interscholastic Cycling Association), also now ranked top twenty in the nation–came in third place at his very first race his freshman year and never wanted to race again.
Just recently after winning state, Ezra headed off to nationals in Kentucky to race against all the best racers in the nation, he aimed for the top 20, and came in 18th place. Even that was a huge accomplishment. Zooming through the race after malfunctions on his bike during the first part, caused him to drop to the 40th place after the first lap. After getting it fixed in the pit, he climbed his way back to the top.
He got here through heavy practice, training, and perseverance. Also, let’s not forget to add a lot of encouragement from his dad.
Ezra has a family history in biking, stemming from his elder brother and his father. Neither of them are particularly competitive racers, mostly biking in their leisure time. However, his father saw a potential he didn’t see in himself. Ezra hated biking with a burning passion after that first race freshman year when he placed third, yet his father pushed him to continue with his career. He claimed his victory was due to a “fluke.”
Mountain Biking is a relatively new sport compared to most, only being about 50-60 years old. Maybe that’s why most had no idea that we had a champion right in our own school, this isn’t the only hidden champion. Sometimes it can feel like the state champions of our girl’s basketball team overshadows other athletes. Benson hasn’t been known for our sports since the 90’s, so to hear we have a thriving athletic community may be shocking.
The
re are two types of biking. There are events on the road and events that are off-road, such as gravel or dirt, which is more typical ofmountain biking. Ezra participates and is a champion in both areas. More specifically, there are at least nine types of biking, road cycling, cross-country style, and traditional mountain biking being the most popular. Mountain biking made its way into the Olympics in 1996, soon after road and cross-country cycling. Mountain biking is also one of the top concussion sports, with up to a 23% chance of concussion in downhill biking as stated by the National Library of Medicine.