Masters Worlds preparations begin

Organizers of the UCI World Masters Championships in Praloup, France, announced that they have begun preparations for the 2008 event scheduled for August 26-31.

For the cross country, racers will see a longer route with each lap approaching 9km, instead of 6km last year, and a start loop with improvements to both length and width. More technical sections will also be added. The downhill will be shortened, to about three minutes, from four minutes last year.

After hosting no entrants from Eastern Europe last year, organizers are trying to attract competitors from nations like Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Hungary and Russia. Registration has opened for the event, with 141 cross country and 51 downhill riders already signed up.