Strider Cup World Championship draws trio of cousins from West Weber
Cousins Weston Storey, left, 3, Shyanne Anderson, center, 4, and Porter Dayton, right, 4, stand on their Strider bikes Thursday, July 20, 2017, at their great-grandmother’s home in Ogden. The three will compete in the 2017 Strider Cup World Championship July 22, in Salt Lake City.
Strider bike rider Weston Storey, 3, races his bike down his great-grandmother’s driveway Thursday, July 20, 2017, in Ogden. Weston and his two cousins will compete in the 2017 Strider Cup World Championship July 22, in Salt Lake City.
WEST WEBER — When it comes to riding a bicycle, Porter Dayton stinks.
And he’s quite proud of that little fact.
The 4-year-old West Weber tyke — along with cousins Weston Storey and Shyanne Anderson — is participating in this weekend’s 2017 Strider Cup World Championship, a no-pedal balance bicycle race being held in Salt Lake City this year. And Jamilyn Dayton says her son is extremely excited about stinking at that race.
“My (older) son plays football, and he gets all stinky and sweaty when he’s done,” Dayton said. “Now, Porter is so excited to be stinky and sweaty after the race. He says, ‘Mom! I’m going to stink!’ “
Dayton’s older children compete in sports, so Porter is usually having to watch them from the sidelines. But this weekend gives Porter a chance to be center stage, and to have his siblings watch him compete for a change.
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The Strider Cup World Championship is an annual event hosted by Strider Bikes, a brand of balance bicycles. These lightweight bikes have no pedals; riders sit on them and propel themselves forward using a running motion with their feet.
The championship races will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday and continue into the afternoon at the Gallivan Center, 239 S. Main St., in Salt Lake City. In addition to races on a 600-foot-plus track with “fun obstacles” for children age 5 and younger, the event will include vendor booths and a Strider play area, according to Kyla Wright, public relations director for the company.
The participation fee is $25, but spectating is free. Registration, at stridercupworldchampionship.com, closed at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 20.
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Weston’s mom, Shannon Storey, heard about the Strider event and signed up the three cousins. The three children all live near each other in West Weber, so they get together regularly to ride their bicycles.
“They all have Strider bikes, and have ridden them for at least a year and a half,” Storey said.
The mothers say 4-year-olds Porter and Shyanne, and 3-year-old Weston, are excited to participate in this year’s event. The three kids love their balance bikes.
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SARAH WELLIVER/Standard-Examiner
Strider bike rider Porter Dayton, 4, races down his great-grandmother’s driveway Thursday, July 20, 2017, in Ogden. Porter and his two cousins will compete in the 2017 Strider Cup World Championship July 22, in Salt Lake City.
“They cruise around everywhere on them,” Dayton said. “They have so much fun on them. And they are so excited for this race.”
Kalee Anderson, Shyanne’s mother, said the three cousins see each other every day.
“They’re just like three little best friends,” she said.
Anderson says she and her husband bought Shyanne a Strider for her birthday, but “she hated it.” So they gave the little pink bike to Shyanne’s cousin Weston.
“He loved it and rode it all the time,” Anderson said. “So we eventually got Shyanne another one, and then she loved it. But until she saw someone actually riding one, she didn’t like it.”
Now, Anderson says the three cousins ride their Striders together all the time.
“They’ll get on their bikes, put their legs out like they’re doing splits, and ride down the driveway trying to do little tricks,” she said. “It helps them a lot with their balance on the bigger bikes.”
Storey says a balance bike helped her son Weston master the larger pedal bikes.
“We literally took his training wheels off, and he had it within five minutes,” she said. “They all three don’t have training wheels, and I think the Strider bikes helped a lot.”
The Rapid City, South Dakota-based Strider Sports International was formed in 2007 by Ryan McFarland, an entrepreneur with a passion for mountain biking and motor sports. McFarland was looking for a way to teach his young children to balance on their bicycles, but found the traditional bike too heavy and complicated.
Wright said the company has been holding Strider Cup races several times a year — all over the world — for about five years now. This year, three other “qualifier” cup races were held — in Fort Worth, Texas; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Lincoln, Nebraska.
Saturday will mark the third time a Strider Cup event has been held in Salt Lake City, and the first time the World Championship has come to town. Last year’s championship was held in San Francisco.
Two years ago, Wright says the Salt Lake event drew between 140 and 150 participants. Last year, it was 270 entrants. This year, more than 350 children age 5 and younger have signed up for Saturday’s races. The racers, competing in various age groups, come from all over the United States and 10 other countries. There will also be a group of special-needs children participating.
“Well, ‘racer’ is a loose term,” Wright said. “These are toddlers, after all.”
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SARAH WELLIVER/Standard-Examiner
Strider bike rider Shyanne Anderson, 4, weaves around short orange cones down her great-grandmother’s driveway Thursday, July 20, 2017, in Ogden. Shyanne and her two cousins will compete in the 2017 Strider Cup World Championship July 22, in Salt Lake City.
Indeed, Wright said the Strider Cup World Championship is less about competition and more about meeting other Strider enthusiasts, overcoming fears, and developing confidence. There will be trophies for the overall winners, but all participants receive a medal and are recognized in a podium ceremony.
“You’ve got a NUK in your mouth, you’re still in diapers, and you’re overcoming your fears,” Wright said.
Storey says the three cousins haven’t really done any training for Saturday’s race, other than weaving in and out of some little yellow cones on their grandparents’ driveway.
“It’s truly just for fun,” Storey said. “It’ll be super funny to see if they get nervous during the race, or if they take to it.”
Dayton thinks it’ll be the latter.
“They’re really super excited to have their own little thing,” she said, “instead of just watching a brother or sister doing sports.”
Contact Mark Saal at 801-625-4272, or msaal@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @Saalman. Friend him on Facebook at facebook.com/MarkSaal.
