Photo Courtesy of Mark Beatty

A Washington teenager has proven she is among the best off-road cyclists nationwide in her age division. The 2015 USA Cyclo-Cross Nationals took place Jan 7th through Jan. 12th in Austin, Texas, with cyclists from across the United States competing in different events. Cyclocross is a form of cycling that takes place in the fall and winter and includes biking on pavement, wooded trails, grass hills, mud and more.

Fifteen-year-old Allijah Beatty of Washington took part in the CX Women Junior 15-16 year old national race. which was postponed from Sunday to Monday. Beatty finished in third place, edging Ashley Zoerner of Highlandsranch, Colorado, by less than a second.

Beatty says her awareness proved to be the difference between third and fourth place, “Right before the last stretch of the race (Zoerner) passed me and I knew we were getting pretty close to the end but I wasn’t sure.” Beatty said, “Once we returned to the pavement, you could see how many laps to go there were. The boys’ 17-18 division was racing a lap behind us, so when I saw they had one lap to go I sprinted really hard to the finish line.”

Beatty says the national event marks the end of the cyclocross season, but plans to stay in shape by taking part in road races and time trials this summer.