ISANTI, Minn. – (July 13, 2017) – On the tracks of Rum River BMX in Isanti, you’ll catch fierce riders at the top of their game. They’re going so fast it’s hard to tell who’s who. Then, the helmets come off and the hair comes down.
“Some people think that I’m a boy and it’s like, I’m not a boy,” said Kali Streeter.
Streeter is only twelve years old and one of the top ten riders in the nation in her class, she’s been riding since she was six.
“When my dad was younger, he raced and so my brother got into it and then my sister did it and then I didn’t want anything to do with it and then I tried it and I really liked it,” she said.
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“We go from the brand new rider that’s never been here before, having a good time on the track and coming out every week to riders then that become local champions, riders that are state champions, we have riders that are nationally ranked riders, hopefully in a few weeks we’ll even say we have some that are ranked in the top in the world,” Riedemann said.
Streeter hopes to be one of them. At the end of July, she’ll be competing in the 2017 UCI world championship held in South Carolina.
“It actually feels good because it’s my first time ever doing the world,” she said.
It may be her first time at the world championship but it’s definitely not her first rodeo.
“I’ve done Grands which is at the end of the year, where everyone goes there and then I’ve done a lot of nationals too,” Streeter said.
Although she’s at the top of her game, her bmx career hasn’t been without obstacle and a couple of injuries. She recounted about one of her biggest wipeouts.
“A girl passed me on the first straight and I was trying to catch back up to her but I got all wobbly and I did superwoman and broke my wrist,” Streeter said.
When she falls, she gets back up. Streeters’ coach Mike Auman said she keeps an attitude that keeps her winning.
Kali’s pretty easy to work with, when she’s told what she needs to do for training, she does what she’s supposed to do on and off the track,” he said.
Riedemann hopes that Streeter can be an example to all the young riders watching her.
“To see her grow and do what she’s doing and now representing at the World’s, it’s quite amazing, it’s just a great story that other young people around the area can follow and chase if they so choose to,” he said.
For Streeter, she’s just doing what girls do.
“It’s a really fun sport to do.”
Streeter is not the only BMX rider from Minnesota going to the world championship. Isanti Rum River BMX has quite a few nationally ranked riders and hopes to take the title for the best track in the nation for the third year in a row.
