Participation doubles for events held in 12 countries
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A girl plays on the pump track.(Image credit: Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor)
It takes a bunch of "big kids" to volunteer to take participants out on rides.(Image credit: Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor)
A kid practices his bike handling.(Image credit: Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor)
One kid rides along.(Image credit: Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor)
A Harrisonburg City Police officer teaches bike safety.(Image credit: Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor)
A kid rides some singletrack on Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.(Image credit: Marty Neary)
A few kids listen to the local officer who instructs on how to ride safely on the roads to the local trailheads.(Image credit: Marty Neary)
Kids got their bikes tuned up and then got ready to ride.(Image credit: Marty Neary)
After just a few minutes, this girl was whizzing around the pump track like a pro.(Image credit: Marty Neary)
This kid tries out some trails.(Image credit: Marty Neary)
Thousands of kids participated in events around the world as part of the International Mountain Bike Association's Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day (TAKMBD). On Sunday, October 3, local clubs organized 167 community events to get more kids on mountain bikes on their local trails.
Events were held across the United States as well as in Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain and New Zealand.
At least 7,100 kids participated according to IMBA's Communications Director, Mark Webber. That's how many kids were signed up as of September 15, the deadline for official registration. "We had events in 12 countries and in just about every state in the Lower 48 of the US," said Webber to Cyclingnews. It was the largest turnout in the TAKMBD's six-year history.
"The program has been so successful that we can barely keep up," said Webber of the administrative and event planning support provided by IMBA. "We'll have to look at what we'll do next year. We want to bring in additional sponsor dollars to support the program." From 2008 to 2009, participation in terms of riders doubled and the number of events grew 39 percent.
Each event is slightly different - details of the organization are left up to local promoters. For example, at a TAKMBD in Harrisonburg, Virginia, 40 kids of all ages participated in a bicycle safety exercise sponsored by city police before joining local Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition volunteers for a mountain bike ride on singletrack and some time on the pump track. Some kids were loaned helmets and bicycles so they could participate while others rode their personal bikes. Kids could participate in rides of varying lengths and difficulties.
TAKMBD celebrates the life of Jack Doub, an avid teenage mountain biker from North Carolina who had a true passion for the sport from an early age to the time when he passed away in 2002.
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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
