It’s not often a boy fresh out of middle school can beat grown men at a sport. Then again, Chase Dickens is not your average teenager.

The 14-year-old won the Category 1 & 2 short-track cycling race at Bear Creek Terrace on Friday, ousting the field of about 30 men, some more than twice his age.

“The bigger guys, they’ll see me and be like, ‘Yeah, he’ll be easy,'” said Dickens, from Mount Airy, N.C. “But then I’ll get out there and show them up.”

Dickens showed up and showed off, becoming the day’s third and final winner of the second stop of the TrailWatch.net USA Cycling Pro XCT Short Track Series, hosted by Sandcreeksports.com. The first leg of the series was in Monterey, Calif., on April 16.

Dickens, who has been riding competitively for two years, said defeating older opponents made his victory that much sweeter.

“Just knowing the guy’s are twice my size and being able to beat them, it’s just awesome,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Durango native Todd Wells won the Pro Men short-track race, where participants rode for 25 minutes and then an extra two laps. Wells also took first place in Monterey. His victory came without drama, as he beat second-place Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski by about 8 seconds.

“Being able to cruise to the finish is always better than having to battle someone to the wire,” Wells said. “Either way, I’ll take it and we’ll hope my streak continues.”

In the first race of the afternoon – the Pro Women – another Colorado native took the top spot.

Boulder’s Heather Irmiger crossed the finish line with her clenched fist raised high. While Dickens estimated Friday’s as his 10th victory, Irmiger’s win was her first in short-track racing.

Irmiger led the majority of the Pro Women’s race in Monterey, but faltered late and finished fourth. She said the loss gave her a new mindset for Friday’s race.

“I was like, ‘I don’t want to lead the whole race, because I don’t want the same thing to happen again,'” she said. “It worked out and the first thing I thought when I crossed the line was, ‘Wow, I just won my first short-track race.'”

The USA Cycling series will continue today at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, where the Carmichael Training Systems Sand Creek International Classic will take place. The cross-country event also will be hosted by Sandcreeksports.com.

Though this marked the first year Colorado Springs has hosted these events, Sandcreeksports.com owner Andy Bohlmann hopes it won’t be the last.

“If all goes well and we get a good showing today and tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised if this became an annual thing,” he said. “With the work Matt (Benassi, venue director for the CTS Sand Creek Series) has done on designing these tracks, I think the riders will like them enough to want to come back.”

This bear entered a home on Columbia Court Friday night and was shot by an occupant. Photo by CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE