SUNDRE — Dozens of young, enthusiastic cyclists of varying skill levels recently descended upon Snake Hill to participate in an inaugural cross-country mountain biking event hosted by a local organization.
Upon being approached by the Red Deer-based Central Alberta Bicycle Club about the possibility of organizing in town a Flexxaire Trailblazers Youth Racing Series, members of the Sundre Bike n’ Ski Club agreed to get involved.
“They were just looking for people to host events,” said Katie Yalte, the local club’s treasurer and one of the event’s volunteer organizers.
With some upcoming provincial youth mountain biking competitions, Yalte said the Red Deer club wanted to find opportunities for young riders to get some experience.
“The kids have just not had that many recent opportunities because of COVID,” she said, adding the local group agreed to get involved with a helping hand from the Red Deer club.
“They had a race organizers’ guide and all of that support was there as far as what we need and how many people we need — that was already clearly laid out for us,” she said, adding the experience was a first for the local club’s members.
“None of us really knew what a bike race was or had been involved or even participated,” she said.
But everything seemed to have gone off without a hitch on Saturday, July 31 at Snake Hill, which is located on Treaty 6 and 7 land that was originally home to the Blackfoot, the Tsuu T’ina, Stoney as well as Michif Piyii Métis peoples.
“Our expectations were just hoping that nobody got hurt, and that people knew where they were going on the course, and for everyone to have fun and want to get back on their bike again sooner than later — I think we achieved all of that,” she said.
Despite somewhat hastily putting the event together in a fairly tight timeline of roughly six weeks, which didn’t allow very long to promote in advance, there were almost 50 young riders aged five to 16 who ended up registering.
While some were local, most hailed from as far away as Red Deer and Cochrane, as well as many places in between, including Olds and Didsbury, she said.
“We were really happy with it. We definitely want to do it again,” she said. “For next year, we definitely want to promote it more in advance and get more local people involved and participating.”
The Flexxaire Trailblazers Youth Racing program was developed in 2013 through the Alberta Bicycle Association as a means of encouraging youth of all ages and abilities to try competitive mountain biking, with the objective of making the sport more accessible throughout the province, reads a portion of the association’s website.
The categories are broken down to Little Rippers for ages 8 and under, Gnarly for ages 9-12, Geared for ages 11-14 and Dialed ages 13-16. The series is focused more on introducing younger riders to cross-country mountain biking as well as an opportunity to train for more experienced cyclists as opposed to a competitive passing race, said Katie Jo Munro, a Sundre Bike n’ Ski Club member and volunteer organizer.
“It’s like learning how to race,” said Munro, adding that as riders progress, their trails take them along more technically challenging terrain.
“If you’ve never been on a trail before, you’re not going to hit it as fast as possible, because you don’t know where the roots and the rocks and the turns are — you have to react very quickly as to your speed and know where you’re going,” she said.
“Some of these kids are going to go off and do provincial races. Coming to this race was kind of like a practice.”
Courtesy of the coordination among the local club and the group from Red Deer as well as the Alberta Bicycle Association, she said they were able to get liability insurance coverage.
“But then it was us who provided the location and the logistics,” Munro said, praising Yalte’s effort as pivotal to the event’s success.
Also playing an instrumental role in making the event happen was Felix Lee, from Olds, an active cyclist who is no stranger to competition.
“It was his idea,” said Munro, adding Lee is “kind of helping us become a better club.”
Considering how quickly everything came together, she was pleased by the turnout.
“It was way more than I thought. I figured we’d have like 30,” said Munro, adding she would have been thrilled even with that many.
People seemed to enjoy themselves and Munro said she received some positive feedback. So, the club is crossing its fingers about the possibility of putting together another race in the coming months.
“We’d like to host an adult race in the fall if we can,” she said, adding the youth event will happen again next summer as well.
“We hope to see more Sundre participants,” said Munro, adding volunteers are also always welcome.
Without support, such events simply aren’t possible, said Yalte, who expressed gratitude to all of the sponsors and volunteers who pitched in.
“Because without them, it just wouldn’t have been as much fun and it couldn’t have happened,” said Yalte, who was initially uncertain how prepared to offer prizes businesses might be.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect after COVID. Everyone’s been hard hit in different ways,” she said.
In the end, a mix of mostly area sponsors along with a couple of bike stores from Calgary and Cochrane offered items from water bottles and stickers to coupons and cookies, she said.
“But the local businesses were so generous with the prizes, so all of the kids went away with a smile on their face," she said.