People often argue who can rightfully claim to be an athlete.
How some sports often don’t hold enough rank for their participants to be labeled as true athletes.
Webster's Dictionary defines an athlete as “a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility or stamina.”
Any athlete is made where hard work meets dedication and rightfully includes the motocross hill climb racers who competed on a mountainside off Highway 30 west of Soda Springs this past weekend.
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Pro Racing is an exclusive professional motocross program sanctioned in the U.S. since 1972 and features some of the world’s fastest racers.
The program is divided into West Coast and East Coast divisions.
The 2024 AMA Pro West Summer Series is held in three locations with two of them being in Idaho. This past weekend these athletes gathered for the first time on a Caribou County mountainside to compete in rounds 3 and 4.
Later this summer rounds 5 and 6 will be held in New Plymouth, Idaho.
The racers compete in three different classifications at each event which consists of 450cc, 700cc and open class which is 700cc or above, also known as the premier class.
Those competing earn points in each classification and must compete in all three events. The points are tallied across the six events during the series. At the end of the six rounds, the top athletes qualify for nationals where the best of the west will battle the best of the east.
Lloyd’s Performance of Bancroft worked hard to bring this event to rural Southeast Idaho where many participants expressed it has been an outstanding location and they hope to come back again.
The scenery alone is unmatched and the course's layout was exceptional, the racers said.
Unlike many other sports, motocross racing has its own set of unique challenges.
There is no real way to train and prepare for races with each course incomparable to another.
Racers don’t even get to practice or ride out a course before their official time starts. It requires a mental and physical readiness, as well as factoring in a piece of unpredictable machinery, making it simply difficult to do much in terms of preparation.
Many motocross athletes have an army of teammates to help them make sure their bikes are performing their best.
This sport is fast paced and thrilling to watch as these athletes tackle a 900 foot long track that is laid out on a steep rocky face of a mountainside.
These bikes aren’t the typical dirt bike designs that many local people own.
The racers warn against novices going out and challenging themselves on one of these hill climb courses.
Many hours of work go into modifying and optimizing the bikes to compete on such terrain.
While many may have not heard of AMA Pro Racing, the sport itself has been around for years and those involved have become a tight knit family-like community.
No one gets into this sport for the money.
It seems all the racers work full-time jobs or run businesses but meet together during competitions with a long lasting comradery simply for the love and respect of the sport. There's also a lot of respect for the mechanics who keep the bikes going.
West Coast races like the one held in Caribou County involve athletes from California, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
And don’t believe for a second this sport is only for men.
Women are making their presence known more and more each year.
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