Two Mississippi girls, ages 9 and 11, are competing this week at the BMX Racing World Championship in Denmark, marking a significant achievement for their age.”I wake up and train a lot now,” Mackenna Morelleto, 11, said. “At first I didn’t really like it, but then I realized there was a whole girls club and I started to really like it.”Boo “The Beast” Greer, 9, has been racing since she was 3 years old.”I watched a friend and I was like, ‘I want to get on one,'” Boo said. Her mother, Elizabeth Greer, known in the BMX community as “Boo’s mom,” initially thought BMX would be a fun activity for her daughter. “It’s taken us around the country and now around the world. We never expected it at all,” Elizabeth said.Boo competes with a team based in Florida, while Mackenna represents Team Canada, where she was born. Both girls dedicate hours each week to training at their home track in Ridgeland. “I do sprints, different times, rollers trying to get the feet to spin fast and then my workout squats, lifting weights,” Mackenna said.Despite the risks involved in BMX racing, Boo remains undeterred. “Once we were racing and a boy came and he hit my front and I fell and got a concussion,” she said. When asked if it made her want to stop, she replied, “No.” “She can be hardheaded and she wanted me to let her ride with a concussion,” Elizabeth said. “But I don’t get as nervous anymore.”Elizabeth hopes the girls will take time to enjoy this unique experience. “I don’t think any of the girls realize the scale and magnitude that this is,” she said. “They both have worked very hard over the last year. I just want to watch them have fun, doing things and experiences we can’t do here and enjoy seeing the world with a bike.”With their sights set on bringing home a world plate, these two girls are just beginning their journey in the world of BMX racing.
Two Mississippi girls, ages 9 and 11, are competing this week at the BMX Racing World Championship in Denmark, marking a significant achievement for their age.
“I wake up and train a lot now,” Mackenna Morelleto, 11, said. “At first I didn’t really like it, but then I realized there was a whole girls club and I started to really like it.”
Boo “The Beast” Greer, 9, has been racing since she was 3 years old.
“I watched a friend and I was like, ‘I want to get on one,'” Boo said.
Her mother, Elizabeth Greer, known in the BMX community as “Boo’s mom,” initially thought BMX would be a fun activity for her daughter.
“It’s taken us around the country and now around the world. We never expected it at all,” Elizabeth said.
Boo competes with a team based in Florida, while Mackenna represents Team Canada, where she was born. Both girls dedicate hours each week to training at their home track in Ridgeland.
“I do sprints, different times, rollers trying to get the feet to spin fast and then my workout squats, lifting weights,” Mackenna said.
Despite the risks involved in BMX racing, Boo remains undeterred.
“Once we were racing and a boy came and he hit my front and I fell and got a concussion,” she said.
When asked if it made her want to stop, she replied, “No.”
“She can be hardheaded and she wanted me to let her ride with a concussion,” Elizabeth said. “But I don’t get as nervous anymore.”
Elizabeth hopes the girls will take time to enjoy this unique experience.
“I don’t think any of the girls realize the scale and magnitude that this is,” she said. “They both have worked very hard over the last year. I just want to watch them have fun, doing things and experiences we can’t do here and enjoy seeing the world with a bike.”
With their sights set on bringing home a world plate, these two girls are just beginning their journey in the world of BMX racing.