Ken Seebeck, League Director
Ken comes to NJICL by way of JORBA, the Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association, where he serves as Executive Director. JORBA was founded in 1999 to build and maintain sustainable multi-use trails, organize and encourage volunteerism and responsibility, and advocate and foster mountain biking as a healthy, environmentally sound, and sustainable activity. Ken feels strongly that NICA is crucial to the future of cycling in America, and is excited to partner JORBA with the league.
He was an early member of the NJICL Core Team. He saw NJICL as a natural extension of his involvement in mountain biking advocacy and took up the role of Chief of Registration in our inaugural season before accepting the responsibility as League Director in June of 2017.
Ken began mountain biking in the late ’80s and found mountain bike advocacy in 2005 when he volunteered as Development Director for JORBA. He is humbled by the passion of New Jersey’s volunteers and the rich history of stewardship mountain bikers have created. He works with land managers across the state to strengthen partnerships and spread trail love. He serves on the NJ Department of Environmental Protection’s New Jersey Trails Council as the Statewide Mountain Bike Representative.
Ken enjoys all aspects of cycling, from racing to commuting to adventure, and feels that the world is a better place when experienced from a bicycle. He is a husband and father of four, and recently retired honorably from the United States Coast Guard, where he served as a Chief Boatswain’s Mate.
Mary Beth Van Wart, Associate League Director
Mary Beth was an early addition to the NJICL Core Staff, joining the team as Volunteer Coordinator; she also serves as the league’s communications and logistics manager.
Her involvement with NICA began before our league was chartered when her son raced in the nearby New York League. Mary Beth and her husband David have promoted races in New Jersey for many years, and have been the “boots on the ground” behind JORBA’s annual New Jersey Mountain Bike Festival. Her attention to detail and work ethic is unrivaled, and her enthusiasm for the league and our mission is contagious.
Happy working behind the scenes or on the front lines at the registration/volunteer tents, Mary Beth is always there to ensure our events succeed!
Dillon Van Wart, Race Director
Dillon Van Wart began his NICA journey as a student riding with the New York league during their inaugural season! Surrounded by bicycles from an early age, Dillon has ridden and raced in most disciplines.
Upon gradating from the NICA program, Dillon has taken on a myriad of responsibilities with the New Jersey League. He was a Head Coach for our inaugural season in NJ, where he was instrumental in founding a team in his home town. He has served in various league roles, from course setter to staging manager, and assumed the role as race director during the 2023/24 season.
Robin Lauezzari, Chief of Scoring
Robin is the NJICL Board Administrative Officer. He also serves as the NJICL’s Chief of Timing and Scoring. You’ll see him and his team, the West Morris Chainbreakers, at all of our races, so drop by and say hello. You can’t miss him; he’s the guy with the British accent!
Robin was born in London, England, and has lived in the USA since 1980. He has lived in Long Valley, New Jersey since 2001 under the close supervision of his wife and two daughters.
Cycling has been his passion for his entire life and he credits his grandfather for inspiring and supporting his early love for his bike. His goal is to get as many people on bikes as he can and he sees NICA as a big part of the future of cycling.
In addition to cycling, he has also competed as a runner across a variety of distances including ultra-marathon, and was involved as a parent coach with his local recreational track and field organization during his younger daughter’s track career.
He continues to spend a lot of time in the saddle in a variety of formats from Mountain to Road. He takes one of his bikes wherever he goes and his ambition is to do at least one long ride in every US state. His most exotic adventure to date was his solo and unsupported ride up Mount Haleakala in Maui and he is in the planning stages for a ride from Washington DC to Pittsburgh along the C&O and Great Allegheny Passage.
Robin is a Level 3 NICA Coach and serves as the Team Director for the West Morris Chain-breakers. He is also a certified indoor cycling instructor and has previously been a Level 2 USA Cycle Coach
Emilio Lois, Jr., Operations Manager
Emilio is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Currently residing in Northern New Jersey, he volunteered to help at the first race of our inaugural season and the rest is history. He was immediately swept up into the New Jersey Core Management Team.
He spends his weekdays as a security consultant, specializing in electronic security and surveillance. His background in technology and systems networks makes him a perfect fit for the scoring team and has made an immediate and positive impact on our race-day timing and scoring processes.
Emilio has gotten much busier since joining the New Jersey Core Team. He is currently a coach for his local NICA team. He serves on the New Jersey Leagues Rules Committee and is also a Scoring and Timing Trainer for NICA National. You could easily find him on race days staging racers or keeping the infield organized and running smoothly.
Jon Olson, Director of Programs
Jon joined the league in the inaugural season to help coach when his son joined a team, to be shortly joined by his daughter mid-season that first year. He has over ten years coaching in a variety of youth rec sports for his two children and has been on the board of the local youth sports league for the past eight years, including four years as President. Jon was introduced to mountain biking in the early 90’s while in graduate school in Colorado and has been a casual rider ever since. He has really enjoyed improving his riding skills chasing his kids through the woods the past couple of seasons.
Jon is an Outdoor Instructor for a YMCA camp working with school age children from all over the state, as well as NY and PA, leading classes in leadership, team building, ecology, as well as adventure activities such as high and low ropes courses, zip-lining, hiking, rock climbing, etc. He is looking forward to bringing that experience to the NJICL Camps program. Prior to working at camp Jon worked for ten years in college and university administration working with student leaders in residence life, student activities, and other areas before moving into Human Resources management and spent another ten years working mostly in recruiting and training and development.
Throughout his varied career Jon has always considered himself an educator and has striven to help people improve, push their limits, find new passions, step outside their comfort zones, gain self confidence, etc. and is excited to be a part of the NICA family to continue doing that through mountain biking. He is a currently Level 3 NICA Coach and an assistant coach with the Hunterdon Havoc.
Tracy Durocher, Chief of Registration
Tracy is a self-proclaimed perpetual beginner mountain biker. With a busy career and family life, she suspects it may be a while before she has the time to become a true expert! She is currently a Level 3 NICA coach who helps out with the Revolutions Composite team.
Tracy found NJ NICA through fellow core staff member Jason Gonsalves, who convinced her to join and volunteer. She says “Looking for a volunteer opportunity and finding NJ NICA was a dream come true. It is a pleasure to spend time surrounded by a sport you love, and even better, to help others find mountain biking and make it a part of their lives.”
Tracy has raced twice in her 10 years of mountain biking – and swears she will do it again soon in the 50+ class!
When not cycling, Tracy is a supply chain manager with a focus on financial forecasting. She is a mother to two amazing boys, Anthony and Bryan, as well as a few cats! She loves to travel, hike, ski, kayak, and swim.
Shawn Doucette, Medical Coordinator
Shawn Doucette has been cycling since the ’80s, but really got into mountain biking while attending college in CO in the ’90s. He’s only raced a few times, but the experience has driven him to continually strive for improvement and success and to instill those same values in his three children. So far, he has only been able to convince his youngest to join him in his cycling adventures! He coaches his other two children in swimming and lacrosse. His family enjoys backpacking, camping, skiing, rock climbing, snorkeling, kayaking, fishing – really anything outdoors!
His many volunteer activities have included everything from YMCA-sponsored programs to charity bike rides across Alaska, as well as medical mission assistance programs in Jamaica during the mid-2000’s, where he assisted in administering free medical and surgical services. He has been a Registered Nurse for over 20 years, and currently runs his own business as a surgical assistant, helping Doctors help their patients.
He is currently a level 3 NICA coach with the Somerset Hills Veloraptors and has been coaching for the past 5 years.
Don Madson, League Photographer
Don lives in Basking Ridge with his wife, Elissa, and has 2 daughters, 3 grandsons, and a granddaughter.
He is a Vietnam Vet, serving 4 years on a Destroyer. He’s got two degrees in Anthropology, and served as Curator of Education, Curator of Anthropology, and Assistant Director of the Morris Museum, then as Director of the Bergen Museum.
After spending 11 years in the Museum field, he bought a tackle shop and spent the next 16 years building custom fishing rods, restoring and repairing reels, and selling the equipment associated with fresh and saltwater sport fishing. He was commissioned by ABU Garcia (the largest fishing equipment vendor in the world) to build a pair of bluefish rods for President G.H.W. Bush.
He has studied Yang style T’ai Chi Ch’uan since 1992 and taught since 1997. Currently, he teaches at 5 locations, consisting of 3 YMCA’s, an Adult School, and a Hospital.
Don has been a photographer for 50+ years and started shooting cycling events 10 years ago. Now covering cycling events in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, most weekends during the season are busy. The opportunity to shoot NICA events is highly satisfying from a photographer’s standpoint, and the environment of a NICA race is not only charged with the electricity of the young riders but the enthusiasm of the NICA team itself.
Retired for a while now, he spends time fishing, playing golf, using photography to prompt walks in the woods, and studying and teaching martial arts, and, importantly, taking photographs of the hard-working riders of NICA.
Fred Brown, Lead Coach Supporter
Fred was born and raised in New Jersey and recalls many of his childhood memories involving a bicycle. It wasn’t until a bit later when he met some lifelong friends that he discovered his true passion for bicycles.
Since then Fred has raced in the woods, on the road, and cyclocross all over the Mid-Atlantic region. More than anything Fred enjoyed the atmosphere, fun, and camaraderie at each and every race.
Since then, Fred has taken the time to focus his time at home, raising two boys, Adam and Paul. He hasn’t left the scene all together. Fred is a Level 2 ICP instructor, a level 3 NICA coach who assists Robin Dunn and the Princeton Progressions, and an NJICL Coach Supporter.
Kevin Soutar, Scoring Manager
Kevin Soutar found NICA through the East Morris Rockies, where he made a lasting impression with the NJICL staff as a fiercely determined rider and standout league volunteer. He was often the first to step up to take on a volunteer task with the timing team, even after carrying his bike over the finish line during the race!
Elliot Coates, Chief Course Marshal
Elliot is one of the newest additions to the NJICL Team, coming on board as Chief Course Marshal. While Elliot will never call himself a racer, he is a lifelong rider and advocate of the sport. Elliot is driven by the power that outdoor and experiential activities have on youth development and their lifelong transferable nature, so much that he has made that his profession. For almost two decades, Elliot has worked in the outdoor adventure and experiential education industry worldwide, including working as a guide and instructor for many years in the adventure industry.Elliot looks forward to applying all his experience in the outdoor adventure industry, risk management, and youth education skills to the NJICL mission and helping grow the number of students enjoying MTB and the natural world.When not in the office or running a camp, Elliot can be found chasing his three young children around, hoping they will grow to love biking and the outdoors as much as possible.
Michael Cohn, Staff @ Large
Michael serves as Staff @ Large for the League, assisting in many different areas. Michael began his NICA journey as a student-athlete racing during the 2017 inaugural season, where he was recognized as the League’s Student Volunteer of the Year.
After graduating high school, Michael attended the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology and a minor in Manufacturing Engineering Technology.
After several years as a staff member in New Jersey while attending college, Michael moved to Maryland and joined the Maryland League. After several years in Maryland he relocated back North to Connecticut. Michael currently resides and works in Connecticut, and travels back to NJ for the races to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the wonders of NJICL.
If not at a NICA event, working, or spending time with family, you are most likely going to find Michael volunteering for various groups, enjoying the outdoors, or at NJ Devils games.
Michael’s interest in cycling began when he spent a high school summer in Colorado, where he cycled up Loveland Pass and Freemont Pass, among other exciting rides and training with his cousins and uncle. After returning, he rode in the Gran Fondo New Jersey, completing the 107 mile distance 2 years in a row.
Coming Soon
James Farrell, Assistant Chief Course Setter
Bio coming soon!
Coming Soon
Junior Rondon, Parking Manager
Bio coming soon!
Rob Brechka, Lead Course Marshal
Bio coming soon!
Jason Milligan, League Photographer
Bio coming soon!
Tom Mayosky, Course Setter
Bio coming soon!
