By: Jax Crall
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – Represented by 36 different teams, more than 850 athletes across the state of Arkansas traveled to Centennial Park on Saturday to compete in the 2025 Arkansas Interscholastic Cycling League State Championships.
Riders and coaches competed for six months to get to this season’s finale. The teams and athletes faced off across multiple age and skill divisions, with races ranging from middle to high school.
One official for the National Interscholastic Cycling Association said this event was a direct result of the league’s biggest mission: to get kids on bikes all over the entire state of Arkansas regardless of their location, geography or socioeconomic status.
“Cycling is a life sport,” Lead Director of the Arkansas NICA, Terry Coddington said. “So, whenever you learn this, it’s not like other traditional sports like football, whenever you’re done in school, 99.9% of the athletes never put on uniform again, cycling you get to do with the rest of your life.”
The AICL just celebrated its 10-year anniversary, and some parents say that this league is more than just riding bikes. The program’s website emphasizes character development and leadership through outdoor activity and competition.
“The whole NICA experience, it’s basically just teaching life skills on two wheels,” Conway Bearcats parent Tara Leamon said. “So, if they have a crash or something, youhave the opportunity to teach them a lesson and let them know that yes, you will have crashes in life.”
Coddington said it doesn’t just stop at tournaments. Whenever a person, family, or team starts mountain biking, communities start to change. Coddington calls this the “NICA effect.”
“We have over 1000 athletes and 400 coaches, but this would not be possible without all of the amazing coaches that are amazing humans that pour themselves into these kids,” Coddington said. “Without coaches, we don’t get more kids on bikes, so that’s really the big thing is all these people that give back.”
Saturday brought in over 2,500 people to watch and compete in the state championships; next week will be even bigger. The AICL plans to host another end-of-season tournament, but this time it will be for 11 different states competing for the Central Regional Championships. The event will be open to the public, and there will be general admission tickets for sale. Officials expect there to be over double the people with many more vendors and parking. If parking does fill up at Centennial Park, Coddington says there will be overflow parking at Baum Walker Stadium with shuttle buses offering rides to and from the venue.