Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Sept. 8, 2025 – Cycling teams across Arkansas came together at Craighead Forest Park this weekend for the NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) Plains Divisional race.
This is the first year Jonesboro has hosted a NICA race, which saw competitors from Conway, Little Rock, Hot Springs, Mountain Home, Benton, Cabot, Russellville, North Little Rock, Harrison and the South Arkansas region.
“This was a new place to come for NICA,” said Craig Rickert, executive director for the Jonesboro Advertising and Promotion Commission. “This town has spent seven figures the last couple years improving the trails out here. We’re gonna do everything we can to bring it back here next year.”
Work to prepare for the competition began on Thursday, with most volunteers and athletes arriving on Friday to help prepare the trails for the races. With practice being held on Saturday and the competition taking place throughout the day on Sunday, many competitors stayed at Craighead Forest Park in tents and campers.
READ MORE: Volunteers prepare for Jonesboro’s first NICA race
Terry Coddington, league director for the Arkansas Interscholastic Cycling Association, said the competition could not be possible without the help of volunteers. According to Coddington, around a third of the people who came to the competition were volunteers.
“It takes a small army, it takes about 59 to 84 people on race day just to make these things happen,” he said.
The day ended with an Individuals awards ceremony and Team Awards. Points for the team awards were decided not only through race performance, but through volunteerism as well.
“The volunteer hours make up half of the team score,” Jonesboro Ridge Riders coach James Meredith said. “It’s volunteering at the races; it’s volunteering to make sure the trails are in really good shape all year round. We’ll come out here several times a year and do trail work, and those hours get logged into that team score. That’s how you get a really good team score.”
Team awards were awarded in categories, listed below:
Middle School Girls:
- Third Place: Capitol City Cranks
- Second Place: Hot Springs Thoroughbreds
- First Place: Russellville Cyclones
Middle School Boys:
- Tie for Third Place: Conway Christian Bearcats and Benton VelociRiders
- Second Place: Cabot Chaos
- First Place: Jonesboro Ridge Riders
High School Girls:
- Third Place: Mount St. Mary
- Second Place: Jonesboro Ridge Riders
- First Place: Capitol City Cranks
High School Boys:
- Third Place: Capitol City Cranks
- Second Place: Jonesboro Ridge Riders
- First Place: Hot Springs Thoroughbreds
Meredith said it takes consistent time and effort to make race season a success. The Jonesboro Ridge Riders have 27 student athletes, ranging from fifth graders to high schoolers. Because of the differing skill levels of each student, starting with the basics and then taking different approaches in practice is essential.
“You pretty much have two coaches for each group and we split up,” Meredith said. “High school kids that are doing really hard, really fast races, they need to train like that, so they train at a higher intensity than our fifth graders. Fifth graders, it’s more about survival. They go from riding casually on a regular road to mountain biking, so their conditioning is different.”
Meredith said biking in Jonesboro was a dream for the Ridge Riders because these are the trails that they practice on and are familiar with.
“We know the trails, that really helps when there’s a lot of tactical things going on with mountain biking,” Meredith said. “Like any biking sport, it’s not necessarily the best athlete. There’s an intelligence part that goes into it, like setting up moves.”
Meredith also credited Jonesboro Ridge Riders’ success on the course to helpful coaches and parents.
“We have really good coaches, and it’s more like a community sport. Even the parents are almost a part of the coaching staff,” Meredith said. “They’re helping get water, making sure everybody’s fed, making sure everybody gets to the stages on time, because it gets hectic.”
The Jonesboro Ridge Riders will have the opportunity to get on the podium again at NICA’s next competition, the Mid Season Classic, in Conway, Sept. 20-21.
For the full Arkansas Interscholastic Cycling League’s race schedule, click here.
