Iowa Mennonite School Junior Alijah Beatty is participating in a biking discipline called Cyclocross.
Cyclocross typically takes place in the autumn and winter, and consists of many laps of a short (1.5–2 mile) course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry the bike while navigating the obstruction and remount
Following a successful road racing season, winning the 2015 15-16 women’s National Criterium Championship title, 5th in the Time Trial and 5th in the road race in Lake Tahoe, CA. She also raced in Quebec, Canada in the Tour of Rimouski, placing 3rd in the criterium and the finished her road season Labor Day weekend at the Gateway Cup Criterium in St. Louis. She has competed in over 50 race in the 2016 season.
Beatty is currently ranked nationally in 17-18 women’s USA Cycling Cyclocross ranking. She recently traveled to Cincinnati, OH and Covington, KY where she participated in the UCI Pan Am Continental Cyclocross Championship U23 women, placing 12th. She is a member of the University of Iowa Heart and Vascular Center/Iowa City Woman’s Cycling Team and Northstar Development Team of Minneapolis, MN. She is coached by Charlie and Sherry Townsend in Minneapolis, MN and Elizabeth VanHouweling with Zoom Performance in Des Moines, IA.One of the largest cyclocross races will be held in Iowa, December 4, 5 and 6 at the Johnson County Fairgrounds in Iowa City. The UCI Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross Rock will have racers from the United States and overseas and has grown to become the largest payout race weekend in UCI history outside of a World Cup event and featured in Men’s Journal as a featured event in their 2015 Adventure Race Calendar. The event is free to the public, Beatty will be competing all three days. Beatty is the daughter of Mark and Susie Beatty.