MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – A couple of fearless Sundre-area tykes who have been riding dirt bikes since just barely after learning how to walk recently fared well at a competition in Calgary.
Siblings Kali Zurfluh, 5, and her brother Ryker, 7, placed seventh and third respectively once the dust had settled following the 2025 Western Canadian Amateur Nationals Motocross.
Held July 4-6 at the Wild Rose Motocross Park in Calgary, the event offered riders three motos instead of the usual two, said mom Riley.
Motos are individual races within a larger event with riders competing for points towards their overall placement.
“It’s a combination of points, essentially,” she said.
The competition was a qualifier to move onto the Walton Transcan Amateur Grand National Championship in Ontario this August, one of the biggest events in Canada to race, she said.
While Ryker earned a gate and Kali might have been able to apply for one, Riley said going this year wasn’t in the cards but added they hope to make the trek out east in the coming years.
If their performance to date is any indication, it’s just a matter of time before an opportunity presents itself.
Ryker, who is now in his third year of racing, has placed first in all of his qualifying races so far this season and third at the event in Calgary.
Kali, who is already into her second year, has done well in her own qualifiers but had a tough run at the West Can where she finished seventh.
“If she could have kept her wheels on the ground, she probably would have placed fifth,” said Riley.
“(But) she was the youngest little rider out there,” she said, adding people at the races frequently ask her how old Kali is “because she’s so tiny out there.”
Yet Kali isn’t intimidated and doesn’t hesitate to race riders who are a couple of years older than her.
Asked how long the brother and sister have been racing dirt bikes and what got them into the sport, Riley said she was a racer herself and that her husband and their father Sheldon enjoys riding recreationally.
“So when they were little, we had them both on dirt bikes with training wheels by the time they were 18 months old,” she said, adding they got started by riding around the yard.
“They both loved it,” she said.
“There’s a lot of parents that couldn’t believe that we put them on at 18 months old,” Riley later said with a laugh when asked the kinds of reactions she and Sheldon sometimes get.
Racers who want to compete in motocross must be at least four and no longer using training wheels, a feat they were able to achieve.
“It’s incredible to let them go when they’re little, because they pick it up really quick.”
Yet Sheldon did on occasion get a little protective.
“Sometimes with my daughter, my husband, he’s like, ‘You know, we need to take it a little bit slower with her, she’s just a little girl,’” she said.
But herself a racer, Riley expressed confidence in Kali.
“I would have assumed that my daughter would have been off the training wheels before my son, if my husband would have let her. But he was nervous,” she said.
Once both Ryker and Kali ditched their training wheels, the siblings started racing in mini motos at a track in Alix, a community northwest of Red Deer.
From there, they progressed onto a central series last year and this year embarked on a bigger circuit, she said.
“I’m a proud mom … it’s been amazing watching both of them out there,” she said, going onto acknowledge that it can be “nerve wracking at times, for sure.”
The experience has also rekindled some fond memories from her own early years, said Riley.
“It’s been so fun taking them to some of my childhood tracks and getting them to experience it and experiencing it through their eyes too. It’s super awesome,” she said.
“It’s a lot of work – to say the least – but it’s definitely worth it, and it’s something that fills our summer with so much joy.”
While Riley has dived back into racing a bit, she was by herself at the West Can in Calgary and had her hands full with kids. But although she was unable to compete at the time, she was sitting in second place in her women’s junior series.
“I actually got back on my dirt bike with them this year, and I’ve been racing with them this series,” she said. “So it’s been super fun for me to be able to get back out there with them too.”
The family was at the Taber Motocross Park this past weekend on July 12-13 competing in the Alberta Championship Motocross circuit, with Ryker finishing in first overall on both days while Kali finished fourth on Saturday and third Sunday. Riley placed second on Saturday and third Sunday.
Ryker said what he most enjoys about the sport and looks forward to about getting on the track is “hitting jumps and doing corners.”
However, he not only enjoys the thrill of racing, but also the chance to make some friends along the way.
He also remembers how liberating it felt to lose the training wheels.
“And then I got going.”
