“One of our goals over the last couple of years was to host the national championships,” said Mike Manara, Mount Washington’s Race Director. “We’ve hosted Canada Cup and B.C. Provincial races in previous years but this is our biggest race to date. We’re honoured to be staging this year’s National Championships.”
More than 400 riders from across Canada are expected to compete in the four days of downhill and cross-country racing. Racers scheduled to compete in this year’s championships include Comox Valley riding sensations Kiara Bisaro, a 2006 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, and Geoff Kabush, who has been in the top three in World UCI mountain bike rankings this year.
The Monster Mile, Mount Washington’s notorious downhill course, will be ready to test the skills of Canada’s fastest downhill racers once again this summer.
But downhillers aren’t the only athletes that will be challenged by the mountain at the nationals in July. Cross-country riders will have to negotiate Mount Washington’s physically demanding cross-country loop and overcome that all-too-familiar excruciating leg burn.
Volunteers will be needed for marshalling, information, registration and other key positions.