WEST DOVER, Vermont — The 2007 Iron Horse Downhill Series, presented by e.thirteen had barely wrapped up the awards ceremony in Mount Snow’s main base area last Sunday, and all the athletes wanted to talk about was how exciting 2008 was going to be with the increased level of participation and two additional races. <\/p>\n
Over 1,000 event registrations occurred during the series, which consisted of four weekends of downhill racing and three weekends of dual slalom competition. According to Mount Snow Events Director, Greg Fisher, that is largest number in the three years Mount Snow has been hosting the event. <\/p>\n
“We broke the record for single weekend entries in two consecutive races,” says Fisher. “There is a large word-of-mouth element to promoting mountain bike competitions, so the riders really deserve a lot of credit for helping this event grow.”<\/p>\n
Fisher was counting on that word-of-mouth promotion when he placed posters in the registration area listing the tentative dates for the 2008 Iron Horse Downhill Series. In addition to the four weekends of downhill and dual slalom competitions at Mount Snow, two more events have been added at Mount Snow’s sister resort in New Hampshire, Attitash, tentatively scheduled for the first weekends in August and September. <\/p>\n
“Attitash is such a great place to ride, and it’s only an hour’s drive from where I live,” said Benjamin Moody (Thornton NH\/Rhino Bikeworks), who had two first-place and two second-place finishes en route to becoming the champion of the 2007 Iron Horse Downhill Series, presented by e.thirteen.<\/p>\n
Moody says he sees the popularity of mountain biking growing on the grassroots level in the northeast, and credits the equipment in large part for the surge. <\/p>\n
“Downhill has become more a stylish sport, from the gear to the bikes themselves,” says Moody. <\/p>\n
Mount Snow will once again host the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships in 2008. This summer they were the first eastern mountain ever to host the event, and drew more than 10,000 spectators over the four days of racing. <\/p>\n
“Nineteen years of hosting UCI and USA Cycling sanctioned events has earned Mount Snow a world-class reputation for building courses that challenge the sport’s elite athletes,” says Fisher. <\/p>\n
For more information about mountain biking events at Mount Snow, contact Chris Lenois at 802-464-4013 or [email]clenois@mountsnow.com[\/email].<\/p>\n
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