Another sport — another Alberta Games.
On June 14, Henrik Quintilio earned a spot at the Alberta Summer Games, this time in the mountain bike competition by placing third place in the Zone 5 (Black Gold/ Yellowhead) qualifier in Devon.
Regular Barrhead Leader readers will recognize the 12-year-old Quintilio as a biathlon athlete who in his last competition of the season, the Alberta Winter Games, in Medicine Hat, won a gold and bronze medal in the sprint and individual events.
Although he is an avid cyclist, Henrik never considered the sport of mountain biking until earlier this year.
“We are good friends with one of the coaches of the Devon Bicycle Association and it was through him that I really started to get interested in trying it,” he said.
Quintilio’s mother, Ntala, said he received additional exposure to mountain biking when he was at the Alberta Winter Games, saying many of his Zone 5 teammates from the Devon area are mountain bikers.
“I think after hearing them talk about it (mountain biking), it really peaked Henrik’s interests,” she said.
So in late April, sporting a used $300 mountain bike, Henrik joined the Devon Bicycle Association and enrolled in an introductory mountain bike program, called the Bears.
Through the Bears, Henrik learned all the skills to negotiate safely through the various jumps, obstacles and terrain on a mountain bike course.
“It is really more of a cross-country and endurance sport,” Ntala said, adding besides negotiating the obstacles there is a lot of cross-country riding up and down hills and steep turns making it a perfect cross-training sport for biathlon.
And if anyone would know, it is Ntala, a former member of the U.S. Biathlon team.
Besides having friends in the Devon Bicycling Association, one of the reasons why Quintilio decided to join the association is because in mountain bike circles, it is known to have one of the best mountain bike trail systems in Alberta.
However, if you ask Henrik, why he likes to go to Devon to ride he’ll tell you it is because of its ‘Flow Trails’.
“A flow trail is part of the path where it comes down,” he said. “It’s twisty and turny and sometimes it has jumps.”
Ntala noted the jumps are Henrik’s favourite part.
“We’ve already had to re-tune his bike, two times,” she said.
On an average week, the Quintilio family travels two or three times weekly to Devon or another area where the Devon Bicycle Association members have decided to train. Some of the more popular locations include Terwillegar Park in Edmonton, Hinton’s Mountain Bike Park and a RV park in Thorsby.
“They go to all these different parks and instruct the kids, because no matter how good one park or trail system is, every park has its own unique features and by going to all these locations they are able to teach them specific techniques needed to negotiate almost anything they will encounter,” Ntala said, adding it also helps that Bears’ coach Pepper Harlton, is a former national team member with international experience.
As for what Henrik expects at the Alberta Summer Games, he said he isn’t sure because he is a relative newcomer in the sport, and will continue to train with Harlton and the Bears, as well as riding on his own, until the July 14-17 Alberta Summer Games.
Ntala said the competition will be tough. In Henrik’s age category, because of when his birthday is, he will be racing in the under 15 category, with a number of athletes who are older and more experienced.
However, the Quintilios have a game plan to help even the odds.
“Henrik’s father, Kevin (who is a former Canadian national team biathlete who qualified for the Olympic games in Nagano in 1998), has been teasing him that he has a big Summer Games peaking program for him,” she said.
