One of Quesnel’s finest young athletes was dealt a setback when she injured her shoulder during a race in Chetwynd, B.C. on Sunday (Aug. 26).
Kassee Morrison suffered the season-ending injury due to some bad luck and difficult track conditions in a race that would not have made a difference in the standings.
“On Saturday I was having tons of fun until my bike blew up,” she says.
“So I was riding our spare bike.”
Morrison says she crashed on the replacement and took a blow to her chest from the handlebars that winded her, resulting in a 10th place finish in the first day’s race.
“I had never done that bad in ladies in the past three years,” she says, “so going into the races the next day, I was very nervous and sore.”
“It was raining and I just happened to hit a jump wrong and landed sideways.
“As I landed, I was all over the place, got scared and pulled in my front brake,” which she admits wasn’t the wisest decision in hindsight.
“I flew off my bike and landed directly on my shoulder.”
She says she has injured the shoulder before but never quite this bad.
Although surgery won’t be required, it will take about eight weeks to heal.
Morrison is planning on moving to Penticton this week to start school in the fall, so is going to have to rely on friends and family to help her, as she says the injury is very painful and she can’t do much of anything at all.
While this means she will be unable to finish out the B.C. Championship Series, where she was sitting in third place after one race, Morrison still looks back on the season fondly.
“It’s gone amazing,” she says, “I’ve accomplished lots of my goals for this year, including getting top 10 in nationals and finishing first in North and South B.C. while working.
“It’s been non-stop for four months now, but I love it.”
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