It seems fitting to pen a column on Megan Pretorius in a Chronicle sports section that includes an article on superb swimmer Mia Wittal.
They share trajectory and pedigree, albeit in separate sports, and are among the most promising young athletes in the Tournament Capital.
Pretorius landed on my radar last year when my mountain-bike-loving-cousin Gareth Dunn alerted me to her wunderkind status.
The 15-year-old Valleyview secondary student made a mammoth statement at the Dunbar Summer Series Canadian Downhill Mountain Bike Championships last month at Sun Peaks Resort.
She ripped down the hill in a time of 5:10.39, her time securing comfortable victory by more than 14 seconds in the Under-17 Sport/Expert Division and, more notably, making her the fastest overall female at nationals.
Nobody in the Sport/Expert Women U19 Division did better. Everyone in the Elite (Pro) Women 19-and-Over Division fell short of the 15-year-old phenom.
“I got a hat, glasses, some dollar-store-looking-Canada Day glasses, a nice axe from Sweden or something and a big Canada flag,” Pretorius said of the swag she donned on the podium. “I got the jersey, too. I’m going to have to rock the sleeve now.”
Male and female winners in the U17, U19 and pro divisions earned the right to race with Maple Leaf sleeves on their arms until nationals next year.
Pretorius, not yet old enough to drive a car, earned the right to call herself the fastest female downhill mountain biker in Canada.
“She’s a really good kid, too,” nationals race organizer Stephen Exley said. “[At the Canada Cup in Sun Peaks], she had some bad luck with the weather and was the first one up congratulating the woman who beat her in her category. She’s a really good ambassador for the sport.”
International success seems inevitable for the repeat national champ.
Pretorius is not yet old enough to compete on the World Cup circuit but is eligible to shred at the US Open of Mountain Biking in September in Utah.
“They give out a lot of prize money, so a lot of the pros go there,” Pretorius said. “I’m going to race against them in their category. It’ll be cool to see how I stack up.”
The pros down south might wonder how they measure up to 15-year-old Pretorius, the Canadian benchmark.