Young athletes can have a tough time coming up with the financial means to compete at high-level sports.
Up and coming mountain bike racer, 15-year-old Magnus Manson, is an example of such an athlete, which is why he is hoping a fundraising drive on indiegogo.com will help him achieve his goals this upcoming season.
Magnus said his 2014 racing costs to travel will be just over $9,600.
"Travel money is huge when racing in British Col-umbia. Most races are a least 300 km from Vancouver," he said. "If I do not reach the goal amount, I will rebuild my season based on the amount I have."
Magnus was born in Vancouver and moved to the Sunshine Coast with his family at the age of six. It was through a friend's invitation to Whistler to watch a mountain bike event that he got the itch to learn to ride.
"I wanted a downhill bike and I wanted to race downhill. I don't know what actually got me hooked on the idea of racing. It could have been because my parents were both racing for the national track team back in the day, but slowly my life was all about getting ready and practising for the coming race season, even though I had no idea of what to expect," he said.
Throughout the years he has slowly been making a name for himself, with last year being a breakthrough season.
Last year was his first year as a U17 rider and he felt that challenging himself by racing in the expert class was the right thing to do.
"At the national championships I was feeling good and had all of my lines perfect," he recalled. "I had been practising at Whistler for the week coming into the race. As I remember my race run, it was pretty scary. I remember riding faster than I had in practice. This led to me getting off my line more than a couple times in my race run. Once I crossed the finish line, it had all paid off. That was my goal from the beginning of the season, to win nationals. I killed it by more than 10 seconds."
This year he hopes to race 13 races, three in Washington, two in California and eight in B.C.
"I am working as many hours as I can, but as the season approaches, I am working less and less," he said. "I won't be able to earn enough to cover my expenses for the season even when my parents will cover as many of my expenses as they can. There is simply no way we can do it, which is why I'm reaching out to the community.
"My goal in 2014 is to race as much as I can, perform to my highest capability, and grow stronger and faster for the following seasons to come. Having the support now will help my racing career in the future."
To find out more about Magnus and to offer him some financial assistance, see www.indiegogo.com/projects/magnus-racing.
