Springhurst teenager wins state mountain bike championship

LEVI Billings outraced the best Victorian under 17 male cross country mountain bike riders on Saturday, 15 February to be crowned the 2025 AusCycling MTB XCO Victorian State Champion. The Springhurst 15-year-old raced at full speed over multiple laps before winning the sprint to the line to take the win by just one second over Corey Larson from Bendigo Mountain Bike Club. The Billings family had further reason to celebrate on the day with Levi's younger brother Jackson, 13, coming in sixth place after some tough competition in the under 15 male category. The course located at the home of Bendigo MTB Club - Muldoon Reserve Spring Gully, challenged all riders with long climbs, challenging descents, rocky terrain and some tight tracks where riders had to compete for position. The weekend finished on Sunday with the final round of the Falls Creek Victorian Mountain Bike Championship Series where Jackson came in fourth place and Levi in first. Levi competed in the series over the last four months in Ballarat, Falls Creek and Bendigo winning five out of his six races to emerge also as the series winner. He said he was confident coming into the championship at Bendigo but knew it would be a challenge. "Coming into the race I felt confident because I knew the course and had trained well to prepare myself," he said. "I didn't think I had it won until I had crossed the line because of how close the race had been, the top four riders were together for the whole race." The win has given Levi more confidence going into the last three rounds of the National Series and the National Championships and beyond. "I aim to work my way up to a level where I can go overseas to race the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike Series," he said. Levi thanked his family for their support. "I would like to thank my dad, Brendan, for being my coach and sharing his riding knowledge and skills and my mum Kelly for supporting me the whole way to get to this point," he said. "I would also like to thank my brother for being my riding partner." Jackson only started competing in 2023 in some local junior races before quickly progressing through interschool competitions and then in his first national competition, again in Bendigo, in 2024 where he came fifth. "My dad and brother have always been on their bikes; Dad used to race BMX and downhill, and my brother has been racing cross country since he was old enough," Jackson said. "I have always been riding my bike but only started riding competitively a couple of years ago. "My brother’s racing and my dad’s encouragement to be active and on our bikes influenced us to enjoy the sport and become competitive." He said the toughest part of the state championships at Bendigo was making sure he paced himself. "I didn't want to wear myself out before Sunday because I knew that on Sunday’s race, I would be racing with fatigue in my body so I had to know how much to exert myself before it started damaging my body for the next day," Jackson said. His focus now is to continue to build his strength up so he can sustain stronger pace on longer stretches and improve his passing technique. The Billings brothers' weekend in Bendigo has helped prepare them for the final three rounds of the National MTB Series at Stromlo Canberra, before heading off to the MTB Nationals Championships at Mt Buller on 14-16 March.

Springhurst teenager wins state mountain bike championship

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