MTB News & Racing Round-up, November 14, 2009

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Date published:

November 14, 2009, 22:03

Edited by Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

Welcome to our regular roundup of what's happening in mountain biking. Feel free to send feedback, news, & releases to mtb@cyclingnews.com and results, reports & photos to cyclingnews@cyclingnews.com.

• iXS Cup sets provisional 2010 dates

  

  Article published:

  November 14, 2009, 21:27

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Downhill series returns throughout Europe

  The iXS Downhill Cup announced its provisional downhill mountain bike series for 2010. Three series will be run: one national-level series in Switzerland; another national-level series in Germany and another continental series spanning seven European nations.

  2010 iXS European Downhill Cup
  May 29-30: Round 1 - Innerleithen, Great Britain
  June 12-13: Round 2 - Verbier, Switzerland
  June 26-27: Round 3 - Leogang, Austria
  July 3-4: Round 4 - Bischofsmais, Germany
  August 14-15: Round 5 - Spizak, Czech
  August 21-22: Round 6 - Pila, Italy
  September 11-12: Round 7 - Châtel, France

  2010 iXS Swiss Downhill Cup
  May 1-2: Round 1 - Monte Tamaro
  July 17-18: Wiriehorn
  August 28-29: Crans Montana
  October 2-3: Bellwald

  2010 iXS German Downhill Cup
  May 22-23: Winterberg
  June 19-20: Ilmenau
  July 10-11: Ritterhausen
  July 24-25: Bad Wildbad
  September 25-26: Thale

  Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.

• Felt Ötztal X-Bionic World Cup Team signs Blaza Klemencic

  

  Article published:

  November 14, 2009, 19:41

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Slovenian excels at marathon and cross country disciplines

  Felt Ötztal X-Bionic World Cup Team signed Slovenian Champion Blaza Klemencic. The 29-year-old became the third prominent female signing by the new team after Frenchwoman Sabrina Enaux and the German Adelheid Morath.

  Klemencic has gold marathon European Championships and bronze marathon World Championship medals to her name. She's also proven strong in Olympic cross country distance racing with many top 10 results in international events. She finished 21st at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing despite being ill just before the Games.

  After successfully completing her degree in economics this year, Klemencic is determined to prove herself amongst the best in the world. "My goal is to finish consistently in the top 10 at the World Cups and if possible get a podium result," she said. "At the marathon World Championships I hope to win a medal."

  Team Director Jörg Scheiderbauer welcomed the latest addition to his team. "I am very happy to have Blaza on our Team. She has huge talent and with the right team atmosphere, she will be sure to succeed. We are looking forward to the coming season."

  Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.

• Motatapu race entries close in record time

  

  Article published:

  November 14, 2009, 15:15

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Popular New Zealand race fills up faster than ever

  Entries for the 50km Motatapu, New Zealand, high country mountain bike race to be held on March 13, 2010, closed three weeks earlier this year. The 2,000-competitor limit was reached on November 12, 2009, a record-breaking full four months before the race date.

  Event Director Tracey Neil said this is continuing a trend since the event was established in 2005. Each year, the event registration fills up more quickly.

  "The geographical spread of entries is also extending every year with a record number of entries from the North Island and overseas," said Neil. "Entries have come in from as far away as London and Kerikeri. We also have our usual number of celebrities which this year includes Minister of Finance Bill English back for his second year."

  "Steve Gurney also entered for his first Motatapu, proving you can still be a Motatapu virgin at 46. Plus we have the Team Motatapu riders, which includes James Canny, Simon Van Velthooven and Eddie Dawkins. Eddie won gold in the 1,000m time trial at the Oceania championships at the ILT Velodrome in Invercargill this week."

  Entries for the running events held in conjunction with the mountain bike race, are also going strong.

  Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.

• Mountain bike promoters meet up in Colorado

  

  Article published:

  November 12, 2009, 18:32

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Annual promoters summit draws American off-road organizers

  Mountain bike race promoters from across the US will be coming together to spend the weekend at a summit hosted by USA Cycling (USAC) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on November 13-15. The meeting will be attended by mountain bike organizers, officials, team managers, coaches and some industry representatives.

  Ty Kady, who is part of the organizational team behind the US Cup and ProXCT, will be among those attending and presenting. "This year will be the first for me attending the promoters summit at USA Cycling. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to solidify the relationship between the USAC and the US Cup moving forward into 2010 and beyond," said Kady to Cyclingnews.

  "I've been working closely with Kelli Lusk and the USAC staff over the past eight to 12 weeks on the ProXCT series, and look forward to announcing the exciting things we have lined up for 2010."

  Kady plans to address all the mountain bike promoters and industry attendees about the 2010 USA Cycling ProXCT series. "Topics like branding, marketing, series venues and dates and finding sponsors in a down economy are just some of the concepts that will all be discussed as sort of a 'Best Practices' brainstorm session," said Kady.

  "Both the USAC and the US Cup want to take the ProXCT series to the next level for 2010. Its my hope that by having all the key promoters in attendance, we can roll up our sleeves and get to work."

  Other topics that will be covered during the weekend will include insurance, risk management, doping controls, media relations & communications, national calendars, sustainable race courses and chip timing.

  The summit is a chance for top American promoters to exchange ideas and share what's worked and what doesn't work for organizing off-road races. "I'm excited to connect with some of the top promoters from around the country... . It's a time and place for us to gather together as a community and bounce ideas off one another on how we can make the sport of mountain biking better for everyone involved," said Kady.

  Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.

• Burry Stander keeping busy in off season

  

  Article published:

  November 12, 2009, 17:23

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Under 23 World Champ headed to Momentum 94.7 MTB Challenge

  Under 23 cross country World Champion Burry Stander is keeping busy during the off season. On Saturday, November 14, he'll be making an appearance at the Momentum 94.7 Mountain Bike Challenge in his home country of South Africa.

  Stander missed the last two editions, and the last time he rode, he had to play second fiddle to John Paul Pearton. Since then, of course, Stander has taken the mountain bike world by storm. The 22-year-old Specialized/Mr Price star is is also currently the overall winner of the Under 23 World Cup series, the third best cross country rider in the world and the South African cross country and marathon champion.

  "My season has actually ended, but there is so much hype and excitement around the Cycle Challenge that I let me arm be twisted into riding. It means I probably won't be at my best, as this is generally downtime for me, but I'll give it a good bash," said Stander.

  The relatively short 50km ride - in professional mountain bike terms - at the Waterfall Country Estate suits Stander's ability to a tee. He excels in the shorter cross country type events and he will be very hard to beat.

  Chances are pretty good that Stander will cross the finish line first, but he will face challenges from Phillip Buys (Garmin Adidas), who proved that his fitness is right up there with several recent wins, including the final round of the South African MTN marathon series.

  Kevin Evans is another rider to watch. Despite being in the midst of taking some down time, he's still proven fast at recent events.

  Stander has been taking part in road events over the past three weeks to ensure his fitness levels don't drop completely and has featured in the top 10 of these events on most occasions.

  Stander will also be a studio guest for the live SuperSport broadcast on Cycle Challenge road event on Sunday. He'll be conversing with the world renowned "Voice of Cycling" Phil Liggett.

  A full house of 4,000 riders is expected at the Momentum 94.7 Mountain Bike Challenge, which concludes the Gauteng season for South Africa's top riders.

  For more information, visit www.cyclechallenge.co.za.

• Killeen leaves Trek World Racing Team

  

  Article published:

  November 11, 2009, 21:26

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  British rider focusing on recovering from back injury

  Liam Killeen has resigned from Trek World Racing, effective at the end of 2009, to focus on recovering from recurring back problems. The two-time Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist is taking some time off from elite competition to focus on rehabilitation.

  Killeen's problems started before the 2009 season. "Back problems tend to go with the territory, but during the end of 2008, I took a couple of hard falls on my left hip. I had physio and continued to train throughout the winter but I wasn't right," said Killeen to Cyclingnews.

  "I thought it would just heal over time. I guess part of my problem was that I just had not had (the) experience of injury like this before. In that sense, I have been very lucky."

  Initially Killeen suffered a disc inflammation. That's since healed, but he's been left with muscle spasms due to the imbalance of the back muscles. "Now is the time to do specific work off the bike," he said.

  The decision to step down from Trek World Racing was not an easy one. Even with the injury, Killeen managed to win the 2009 British Cross Country National Championships.

  It was a really tough call," he said. "But I know I'll be returning to riding at high level again. An important consideration has been my responsibility to the Trek team. Everyone in a team shares responsibility for the feeling in the team, riding, training together and achieving team goals, getting results. I felt, that I could not contribute to the team properly. It has been a difficult season - my worst in many ways. The Trek team has good riders with lots of potential and Trek has been good to me."

  "Until now, I just did not want to believe that I should take a break from riding and racing. The plan is to re-programme muscles that have become over sensitive and unable to respond efficiently to demand. I am lucky to have good support from British cycling, and I'm working with an osteo and a personal trainer."

  Racing at an elite level has been compromising the healing process. "There's no getting away from the fact that racing and training was aggravating the injury because I wasn't allowing enough healing time. Consequently, my body was making automatic, compensatory changes that are no good for long term efficient function."

  Exactly how long Killeen will be away from World Cup racing is not known. "I hope I won't be away from World class competition for a whole 12 months. We will see," he said. "I want to be able to compete again at World class level as soon as possible."

  It's not lost on Killeen that many professional athletes return post-injury to racing in a condition that is physically and mentally stronger than ever. "[I] am sure that I will be competitive and able to build towards the Olympics in 2012, certainly an important goal."

  Trek World Racing Team Owner Martin Whiteley has worked with Killeen since 2000. "Naturally we are very disappointed for Liam. He didn't have the year he wanted, and it was clear to all of us that his frustration was not going to subside until he was able to address the injury."

   

  "This is the wisest decision he could have made and I know that my company, and out title sponsor Trek, are fully supportive of Liam's decision. We wish him all the best."

  Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.

• Gracia departs Commencal

  

  Article published:

  November 11, 2009, 20:01

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Frenchman starts new team

  Cédric Gracia is leaving the Commencal team and starting his own squad for 2010. The Frenchman races downhill and four cross.

  "I think it was time to leave. I had different goals, and I want to give back to the fans and sponsors who've been giving to me for so long," said Gracia to Cyclingnews. "I am going to make a private team next year, CG Racing Brigade."

  "I wanted to make my own structure this year. I think it's a good time to give all I know to the future riders of the brigade," he said.

  "I will start this year with myself, a full-time photgrapher, a team manager and a mechanic." The 31-year-old Frenchman, who lives in Andorra, emphasized the importance of a photographer to shoot footage that will capture the lifestyle, racing and freeriding of a pro mountain biker for sponsors.

  Gracia turned pro in 2001, when he raced for the Volvo-Cannondale Team. He joined Commencal in 2006.

  Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.