Reece MacKinnon was impressed with the plaque and the big trophy that bore his name as one of three Supertrak BMX Club members who shared the most sportsmanlike rider award.
The hardware was nice, but it was the black nylon jacket he was given that made the seven-year-old's day.
"I've never had a jacket that says my name on it," said the blond-haired rider, while surrounded by his BMX family at the track at Carrie Jane Gray Park.
BMX is a big deal to the MacKinnon's and Reece's accomplishments in the seven-year-old expert class this season are a source of pride. To jump from intermediate to expert he had to win 20 races. He had a couple wins last year and it didn't take him long to rack up 18 more this summer to accomplish his goal. He's now sporting a No. 7 on his club jacket, which signifies he's a top-10 rider based on his results in the local race series.
Reece loves going to other tracks around the province and he got to do that quite often with his family this summer, racing the provincial series events in Kamloops, Kelowna, Vernon and Prince George. He's now ranked second overall in his class after those four events.
"The best thing about this year was going to provincials," he said. "I liked the Vernon track. The rhythm section is nice and smooth and it's really long."
Reece's nine-year-old brother Cooper was the first in the family to earn his BMX racing stripes and was a Supertrak rider for four years but no longer races. Badminton is now Cooper's main athletic passion and Reece, a Grade 2 student at College Heights elementary school, has also shown an interest in whacking birdies around the court. He also likes hockey and soccer.
"Reece has been trying really hard," said Cooper. "He's raced the top-10 provincial riders for three years and he's been learning from those guys. He's been racing nine-year-olds and 10-year-olds."
Reece is not just racing them, he's beating them to the finish line. In club races, which will continue until the weather gets bad, he's usually battling for first or second.
As much as it's fun to watch her middle child win races, the most sportsmanlike rider award was the proudest moment for Jody MacKinnon, Reece's mother, at Sunday's awards banquet. Each rider voted on the award and it resulted in a three-way tie that also included Cole Patterson and Brady Anderson.
"Reece has a really good attitude, he just wants to go there and have fun, he doesn't take it too seriously," said Jody. "They high-five each other, wish each other luck, and it's recognition for trying to be kind and help people. He's known kids who are just starting out and he'd like to try to help them because older kids have done that for him as well."
The youngest member of the MacKinnon family, five-year-old Mitchell, started racing two seasons ago. He's been racing this year in the five-year-old intermediate class. All that time hanging around the track watching his boys race inspired their 41-year-old father, Don, to launch his own racing career in the 20-inch class. He's currently ranked first in the provincial race series.
"It's a great family sport," said Jody. "There are lots of girls starting to race and lots of moms."
Now that Mitchell is of an age he's more able to look after himself around the track, the MacKinnon boys have been trying to convince Jody to race. She's never ridden the track but she plans to try it next year with her children.
Having competed all summer in the out-of-town provincial events, Reece and Don are off to the races next Friday for one more road trip to the BMX Grand Nationals in Chilliwack. Although the weather is getting wet, that won't be a problem in Chilliwack. The races, which will attract riders for all over North America, will be held indoors.
