Rider Rainer, a student at Burlington High School and member of the Southeastern Lakes Scholastic Mountain Bike Association (SLSMTB), was the third-place finisher in a nearly 20-mile race Sept. 16 in Wausau.
Rainer was one of four SLSMTB riders to finish in the top five for the Division 2 JV3 race. He finished with a time of 1:27:57.45, less than a second behind the top two.
Rainer and fellow SLSMTB riders Connor Buchanan, Nathan Gowe and Alex Martin quickly took control of the race, pulling ahead early on. These four boys in the lead negotiated a course full of challenging climbs, singletrack with rocks, roots, downhill berms and slippery double-track conditions.
The finish was so close that it required official review to confirm race results as the four crossed the finish line within two seconds of each other.