Apprentice carpenter Brent Rees was on top of a roof when he received the email informing him that he had been selected for the Australian Mountain Bike U23 team to contest the world championships in picturesque Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
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The news put him on top of the world. He turned to his boss and asked, “Mick, can I have a week off in September?”
Mick turned to him with a grin on his face and said, “Yeah, mate. Go for it!”
It was no secret that the 19-year-old had been making an effort to distinguish himself in the sport.
Despite working for 40 hours per week and going to TAFE he still managed to ride six to seven days a week, and get in 10 to 15 hours worth of practice.
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“I’ve always ridden bikes throughout my childhood,” Rees said. “I had an older brother and we would muck around doing jumps. I did triathlons in sport over childhood. But after I left school, time was limited, so I focused on cycling. It suited me because I had a motocross background and the skills came in handy.”
Days before his trip to the Swiss Alps, he does not regret his hard labour.
“I wasn’t racing last year. This is my first year in the whole game,” said Rees, the only member of the U23 Australian team yet to participate in world races.
The other five team members are Luke Brame, Callum Carson, Michael Harris, Alex Lack and Reece Tucknott – all of them are seasoned riders who have taken the novice under their wings and have prepared him for the amazing experience.
He knows that he is in for a real treat. “They’ve told me that it’s huge and exciting,” Brent said.
There’s always the hope that he’ll win the coveted rainbow jersey of the World Champion, but for the moment he is more interested in savouring the experience of competing against the world’s top 100 riders.
“I’m just going for the experience this year,” he said. “I don’t expect to go over there and win or anything like that. I’d just like to have a good race and just to really take in the atmosphere as there are going to probably be 40,000 plus spectators around the track. I’ve been told it has been an amazing atmosphere and race.”
”I am honoured to be representing Australia.”