georgia-founding-committee
Kenny Griffin, Eddie O’Dea, Austin McInerny, Dan Brooks and Rick Spitler announcing GA league at Interbike. Photo: Phil Beckman

The announcement of Georgia as the 2014 project league at the Interbike NICA press conference produced incredible excitement and a host of local and national media coverage, including articles in Bicycle Retailer, Mountain Bike Action, Bike World News, Cycling News, Sports One Source and Switchback. Rick Spittler, NICA Board President, opened the presentation, followed by Austin McInerny, NICA Executive Director, highlighting the many successes and rapid growth of the national movement.

georgia-poster-PRINT
Guess where high school mountain bike appears next?

The press conference culminated with the traditional swapping of the “Guess where high school mountain bike appears next?” sign with “NICA Announces Georgia as the 2014 League.”

“Georgia has a special place in mountain bike history, as the place where the sport was added into to the Olympic program, and we are pleased to welcome the Georgia league into the flourishing NICA community,” stated Austin. “Dan Brooks, as a new league director, brings with him a powerful statewide grassroots movement that strongly supports his passion for mountain biking and youth development. Our national NICA staff have already started providing training and support as the Georgia league prepares for its inaugural season beginning March 2014.”

“We look forward to working with NICA to bring organized high school mountain bike racing to Georgia,” said Dan Brooks, director of the Georgia league. “Mountain biking is tremendously popular in this state, and a lot of students and their families will benefit from the NICA program. Georgia has ample infrastructure to support a high school mountain biking league and our robust cycling community will certainly make this a success.”

We welcome you to support and participate in this newly created league. Welcome Georgia!

Following the press conference, NICA and Leagues continued to work at the NICA Interbike booth. With the monumental growth of the movement, and press coverage, the booth was incredibly busy. Many leaders from new states expressed interest, and NICA is currently following up with passionate people wanting to form new leagues across the country. Further, NICA and Leagues spent time talking to current and new sponsors attending the conference. As usual, Interbike provided a unique opportunity to connect all involved in the cycling industry with leaders of the high school mountain bike revolution that is spreading across the country.

NICA presence at Interbike ended with both Austin and Jacob Seigel-Boettner (one of the producers of SingleTrack High), being interviewed on Good Morning Interbike. Please watch this telling and informative interview here.