Not everybody can say they placed fourth at a competition involving athletes from all around the world, but 13-year-old Alec Taylor can.
Taylor is an eighth grader at the Owatonna Middle School, and while he does not take part in any sports through the school, he is a BMX racer and has competed since 2018. After years of working up the ladder in competitions, Taylor took fourth place at the BMX World Championships in his age group in May.
Beginnings
Taylor’s BMX riding career started through word of mouth, as he heard about the sport from his neighbor. After that, Taylor’s parents, Tony and Amy, took him to a track in Faribault, the closest one to Owatonna where they live.
The Taylors watched the races at the Faribault track, and Tony talked to a couple of them about the sport; they answered his questions and even performed tricks for Alec to see.
“I looked over to Alec and asked him ‘Do you want to do that?’” Tony said. “’Yes’ was his answer.”
Alec, who was in first grade at the time, started to ride.
“When we first started, we just thought Faribault BMX sports was it; that was all that existed” Tony said about the track. “But then we found out there’s a track in Mankato.”
As the world of BMX opened up, Tony and Amy gave Alec incentives. They told him that if he wins a couple races at a certain location, they will take him to other tracks and races to race against others.
BMX riding consists of three classes: novice, intermediate, and expert. After Alec raced at a few events at the Faribault track, the Taylors found out that Faribault had a state race that year, and Tony and Amy told Alec that if he could move up to the intermediate class, they will take him to the state race.
Alec did just that, and at the state race, people asked the Taylors if he was going to compete at the Gold Cup. Tony and Amy told Alec that he could compete at the Gold Cup, which is a regional race, if he gets a plate at state. Again, he did just that.
Alec then competed at various races around the country. He competed at nationals for the first time in 2021, and returned to compete at the event in the years since.
Last year, the only major competition Alec had not competed at was the worlds competition, which takes place every year at a different location around the world.
Tony and Amy once again Gave Alec an incentive. They told him, if he did well enough at the nationals competition, they would take him to the worlds competition. He performed extremely well that year, taking home many first-place trophies at various national competitions.
“Our whole basement if full of trophies,” Tony said.
Continuing to rise and meet expectations every time he was challenged, Alec was ready for the biggest stage of all.
World rider
At this point, Alec was already at the expert level for a while, and he was about to experience his first competition as a rider on the world stage.
Alec had a coach, too — Patrick Coo, a professional BMX rider. Coo is from the Philippines, like Amy, and currently lives in California.
They communicated with each other back and forth over the phone and by sending videos of their riding with tips for Alec. The Taylors first noticed Coo on TV, while watching a pro race, and they messaged him on Facebook.
Coo agreed to be Alec’s coach, and now the Taylors have him on speed dial. Alec practices every day, getting constant feedback from Coo.
With the high cost of competing at various competitions throughout the country, the purpose of the incentives Tony and Amy gave Alec was to make sure his heart was in it and make sure he wanted to race.
{p dir=”ltr”}“It’s more of a motivation, and he really loves the sport, so what can we do but support,” Amy said.
{p dir=”ltr”}They also make sure Alec is caught up in school. He’s a straight A student, and his parents have a rule that, if he has any missing assignments, he can’t race again until they are turned in.
Tony asked Alec if he was ready for the worlds competition, and Alec said “Yes.” Luckily, the worlds competition this year was in South Carolina, so they did not have to leave the states for it.
Alec performed extremely well at the competition. In the age 13 group, he finished in fourth place, behind racers from Columbia, Japan, and the United States.
Recognition
Returning to Minnesota as a world competitor in BMX riding, Alec was ready for some recognition, but he soon realized his escapades weren’t common knowledge.
It wasn’t until he saw his sixth-grade music teacher Jennifer Arco Bellefeuille in the halls at the start of the school year that he got a taste of it.
Bellefeuille remembers having Alec in class two years ago. Alec would share videos of his riding with the class.
“I thought that was just really cool, and that he was willing to share that with the class,” Bellefeuille said.
Bellefeuille saw Alec in the halls at the start of this year, and he told her that he took fourth place at the worlds competition but nobody really seems to understand it or care about it.
“I thought that didn’t seem right for a person that dedicated this much and has worked this hard,” said Bellefeuille.
Tony agreed with Bellefeuille, as he had seen videos of other BMX racers returning to school with more acclaim.
“You would see people come back to school and the whole school would be in the hallway cheering as they come back with the world plate,” Tony said. “Alec got none of that here.”
Bellefeuille contributed this to the popularity of team sports at the high school level, and the lesser popularity of BMX riding.
“People are just better educated about team sports, and you get to these individual things, something that’s not quite as showy, and there’s no advertisement,” Bellefeuille said. “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
Alec may not be recognized as much as other riders in the sport, but his accomplishments have allowed him to connect with people all over the world.
He has befriended fellow racers his age all around the country, seeing them at racing events year-round. He even has some friends in other countries. When they are not at competitions, they are able to connect through video games, including, of course, biking games.
Future
He’s not even in high school yet, but Alec already has a plan for himself after secondary education. He wants to become an engineer, getting a degree at Purdue University. His mother Amy has a degree in chemical engineering.
Through a joint partnership, Alec intends to continue his riding career in college, as well, through Marian University, which is one of only two colleges in the country to offer the sport.
As for the distant future, Alec will compete in nationals this month in Maryland. He will also look to compete at the worlds competition again next year, this time in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since he placed at worlds this year, he’s already qualified for the competition next year.
“Most people that do this sport race their whole lives, Tony said. ”People go their whole lives and not win at nationals not compete at the worlds competition, he’s done both of that.”
It’s safe to say that Alec is not going anywhere in the world of BMX racing, as he just keeps adding to his accomplishments.
“It gives me something to do besides video games,” he said.
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