Prodigy, 11, riding high following Victorian Downhill Racing title heroics

Tasked with pitting his wits against Victoria’s brightest racers, he did not disappoint as he took Mansfield by storm on what proved to be a proud day for his club across the board.

Alongside Jeffers’ heroics in earning the top step on the podium in his age group, Diesel Jones finished in fifth in the under-15s race, with Sid Sprunt ending proceedings just behind in seventh place.

In addition, the GV riders excelled in the under-17s race with Taylan Renau taking fourth, while Luke Calvert and Eliot Bye finished eighth and ninth, respectively.

Not content with having secured the spoils at state level, Jeffers then backed this up by placing fourth at the 2026 GWM Mountain Bike National Championships just a week later.

Taking to the slopes at Mount Buller, the starlet was faced with the challenge of navigating a gruelling two kilometre track which features an intimidating 249 metre elevation descent.

However, unshaken by the task at hand, he demonstrated his talents on two wheels once more - posting a time of 3:45.326, which was just 20 seconds short of the eventual victor.

Speaking son’s achievements, mum Jo Jeffers opened up on how her boy’s recent successes have filled her with pride following hours of hard work in preparation for races.

“He performed really consistently throughout the season, enough to keep him first overall [in Victoria],” she said.

“I have an older son too and we take the boys out to ride at Mt Bride and Mt Buller, and there’s a great track out at King Lake all so they can train!

“It was amazing, he trains hard and, though he’s only 11, he has PT sessions twice a week and we’re away most weekends riding as it’s obviously quite flat around here apart from Mt Major.”

Following his heroics on Mount Buller, the youngster attention has since turned towards preparing for further forays on the under-13s stage in the AusCycling Downhill (DH) National Series.

Building on his recent experiences, he will take to the track for Round 2 at Toowoomba in Queensland on the weekend starting April 11.

From there, his next destination will be at Willunga in South Australia for Round Three in the series on the weekend starting May 2, before Round Four at Awaba in New South Wales commencing from May 16.

Previously, he placed third in round one race of the series on home soil in Victoria at Falls Creek back in February.

The racer’s mum highlighted how her son’s involvement with the Goulburn Valley Mountain Bike Club has helped him socially and provided him with a community of supportive friends along the way.

“He’s always been passionate about biking, when he was a little kid, he was always riding around,” Jo explained.

“We started off at at a junior race series out in Bendigo, so we were often driving out there to go to that.

“But then the GVMBC reformed and we did the first downhill race series with the rookie cup over in Ballarat - we’ve been hooked since then!

“It’s a wonderful club and it’s a great bunch of kids with varied age groups and they’re all really good mates.

“They’ve all got the same goals and interests, my son is 11 but he can easily hang out with the older kids as they can go riding together - the club has really good values and there’s a great vibe around the race scene.

“As a parent, we get to go loads of cool places too - it’s stunning!”

Despite her boy’s burgeoning success, mum Jo is also looking forward to some family time after what has been a whirlwind few months for the Jeffers clan.

“As much as we love going away, it’s going to be nice to do some day trips - but we’ll still do riding for fun,” she said.