Newport Beach’s Marans to race in junior nationals

Jesse Marans wanted to slam on the breaks.

Please stop!

The 14-year-old wasn’t even riding his red, white and blue brakeless track cycling bike.

But when the eight-grader heard his name announced during the weekly assembly at Harbor Day School, he cringed. Everyone else in the auditorium applauded.

The school recognized the 5-foot-10, 140-pounder and his cycling efforts.

He’s not used to the attention at school, but on the velodrome, a specialty-built banked oval track, he’s making a name for himself.

“Hi, I’m Jesse Marans!” said Marans, sounding enthusiastic. “That’s not really me.”

Marans must get used to the notoriety. His father, Howard, told him so with all the recent racing success.

Howard, an orthopedic surgeon, has sort of taken the reigns as the public relations guru since Marans took up the sport after watching a race for the first time three years ago at the Home Depot Center.

Of course, all the attention has his son wanting to speed away.

After Marans won the 13-14-year old boys’ division at the Southern California-Nevada Cycling Association Junior State Track Championships in San Diego earlier this month, Howard alerted the media. Then the media wanted to talk to his son about his feat.

“There’s one problem,” Howard said. “He doesn’t really like to talk. Let’s see if I can get him to give you a call.”

The call never came. The USA Cycling Junior National Track Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo., were fast approaching and that’s all Howard said his son was locked into.

The four-day event starts Saturday and a week before Marans finally caved in. He spoke at length about his experiences, how he dominated each of his three races (500-meter time trial, 4-kilometer, 8-kilometer) in San Diego, and how he’s one of the favorites in Colorado.

“First of all, I’m not a show off,” Marans declared. “I get really nervous talking about my sport compared to when I’m participating in it. My own father goes out to people and tells them that I’m doing really great. My friends don’t even know sometimes.”

Marans said one of his friends can’t even ride a bike. Forget about letting the friend jump on his Look 496. It’s expensive first of all.

“The frame is around $10,000,” said Marans, who won’t even use that bike during the national event.

Marans is going with a black bike he borrowed from one of his dad’s friends. Something went wrong with the seat on the patriotic bike and Howard said they sent it to France, the only place where it could get fixed. Someone did, but Howard said Marans feels better on the one on loan.

— David Carrillo Peñaloza