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Racing has been a major part of ��Ӱֱ�� State College alumnus John Koester’s life ever since he first began competing in motorcycle races at just 2 ½ years old.

Today, after years of honing his skills, Koester, a 2014 building trades: building construction graduate, is now a professional hill climber who has raced his way to the very top of his sport. And at age 26, he’s just getting revved up.

Taking an interest in racing came only too naturally to Koester, given that his father, mother, sisters, and grandfather have all raced competitively. Each year, the family would take in the hill climb races at the Poags Hole course in Dansville, which sparked Koester’s interest in the sport.

“We would go and watch and I pretty much just said, ‘I can do that,’” said Koester, a Hornell native. “We went and tried it and it’s worked out for us.”

In 2010 at just 16 years old, Koester became a professional hill climber. Two years later in 2012, the same year he graduated from Arkport Central School and enrolled at ��Ӱֱ�� State, he joined the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA). He has since competed in several states, including Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee, Montana, and Ohio.

In his career, Koester has achieved some pretty impressive feats, including earning 10 national No. 1 titles. During the 2017 season, he had a nearly perfect season in the Extreme Class, winning all but one race. In 2018, he became the first professional climber in the United States to win all three National AMA Pro Hill Climbing titles (450 Pro Class, Extreme, and Unlimited) in the same season.

Koester once again made history earlier this year when he became sponsored by Indian Motorcycles, marking the first time the company has entered the sport of hill climbing since 1939. Under this new partnership, Koester is competing in an all-new AMA Twins Class on a modified FTR750 bike. After Indian Motorcycles provided the engine, Koester and his father Gordon, who is an instructional support assistant in ��Ӱֱ�� State’s motorcycle and power sports technology program, designed, fabricated, and built the bike from the ground up.

“It’s kind of surreal to bring that company back into the sport of hill climbing after so many years that they’ve been out of it,” Koester said of the sponsorship. “To have them choose me and my team, it’s really cool for me to see that the hard work we’ve put in over the years has paid off.”

In addition to the support he has received from his parents, siblings, and friends, Koester credits Arkport Cycles for playing a major part in his successful racing career. The business is owned by his grandparents, John and Rose Jamison.

“My grandparents and their business have really propelled me forward in my racing career and my life, as well,” he said.

Koester also gives credit to ��Ӱֱ�� State for helping him succeed in his full-time occupation as a utility lineman, both because of the electrical training he received as a student and the lessons he learned at the college.

“It really helped me realize that you’ve got to work hard to get what you want,” he said. “That’s the way everything is but ��Ӱֱ�� made me realize that, if you want something, you’ve got to go and get it.”

For Koester, the best part about hill climbing is the exhilaration and sudden rush he gets while competing in races that typically last between only six seconds and 20 seconds. Unlike the nature of his sport, however, Koester’s professional hill climbing career is poised to be a long one, with even more wins and achievements sure to follow as he continues racing to the top.