by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
Cheryl Post, a local BMX racing mentor recently died after battling stage 4 melanoma for the past year. Post, 53, was diagnosed April 2013 and died at her home.
She and her husband, Mark, were active with mentoring BMX racers. BMX is a type of off-road bicycle racing whose format was modeled from motocross racing. Races are sprint races done on off-road tracks.
Post’s daughter, Alise, is a professional racer and a U.S. Olympian who competed in the 2012 Olympics held in London.
The Posts played a large role in opening the Pineview Park BMX in 1999 and Mark is the track operator. The park was dedicated to the Posts by the City of St. Cloud last summer because of their many contributions.
A USA BMX tribute to Post quotes her talking about their passion for the sport. She said they started racing when their son, Nick was 14 and Alise was 6. Three months after their children started racing, the Posts began looking into starting the track and 14 years later were still at the park even though they no longer had any children racing there.
Post said they were mom and dad to about 100-150 kids each night at the park.
Local brothers Westin and Trentin Hiltner met Post while racing at the track. Westin, 11, started competing when he was 5 and Trentin, 6, started when he was 3. Trentin still races.
“She helped me so much when I was 4,” Trentin Hiltner said. “She held me at the gate. She was awesome.”
USA BMX said Post will long be remembered for her enthusiasm for the sport and encouragement to each and every rider she met.
Local brothers (left to right) Trentin Hiltner, 6, and Westin Hiltner, 11, raced at the Pineview Park BMX, which Mark and Cheryl Post were instrumental in helping start. Trentin still races there.
Westin Hiltner (right) stands with Cheryl Post’s daughter, Alise, who is a professional racer and who competed at the 2012 Olympics in London.