The Erste Bank Sparkasse - Out of Bounds Festival 2011 proved to be one of the world’s biggest mountain bike highlights once again. Despite the unpredictable weather, the organizers can look back at a complete success.
Over the two festival weekends, it was especially the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup form June 10th to 12th and the 26TRIX fuelled by Monster Energy from June 16th to 18th that attracted masses of spectators who weren’t scared away by the rain. For the riders, the rain posed a bit more of a challenge. To guarantee the participants’ safety on rain-soaked tracks, the finals of the 26TRIX fueled by Monster Energy and the European Fourcross series unfortunately had to be cancelled. In both cases, the qualifying results counted.
About 13,000 visitors came to Leogang for the long World Cup weekend from June 10th to 12th to attend this international mountain bike highlight. The DH and 4X tracks were both completely redesigned for this year’s races to guarantee even more bike action. Accompanied by the enthusiastic cheers of the spectators, the athletes showed maximum performance and spectacular races. Congratulations go to Aaron Gwin (USA) who was able to secure first place in the DH race. Floriane Pugin (FRA) made it down the hill faster than any other woman with an impressive time. The 4X was dominated by Jared Graves (AUS) and in the women’s race Romana Labounkova (CZE) took home a clear victory.
At the 26TRIX fueled by Monster Energy at the Bikepark Leogang not everything went exactly according to plan, which did not spoil the exceptional trick fireworks. Brandon Semenuk (CAN) dominated the contest as well as the best trick contest that was held spontaneously instead of the finals. The qualifiers on Friday had taken place in gleaming sunshine. Before a breathtaking backdrop the dirt superstars showed tricks on an extremely high level. At this Gold event of the Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour they were eager to collect valuable points for the overall ranking. Just in time for the finals, it became clear that the course was not rideable without risking serious injury for the riders. Organizers and riders decided together to cancel the finals and instead count the results from the qualifying. Fortunately, the qualifying had been carried out at such a spectacular level of tricks that spectators and riders did not feel cheated.
For the third stop of the European iXS Downhill Cup, 356 participants from 26 nations had made their way up the mountains of Saalfelden Leogang. Already during the training, the extremely high performance level had become obvious, even though the track was not easy to master because of the rain. In the end, Junior World Champion Troy Brosnan (AUS) was able to beat the other riders. Emilie Siegenthal (SUI) was able to cement her lead in the overall ranking with a victory in the women’s race. Austrian Petra Bernhard (AUT) made second place, which obviously caused a wave of excitement among the local audience.
The expo area also had a lot to offer and the numerous visitors were able to talk to the superstars of the different disciplines and drop by for a quick chat. Furthermore, the exhibition booths invited everyone to check out the latest trends of the mountain bike industry. Of course, there was also plenty of time for partying. On Friday, the party started with a Bunnyhop Contest that was dominated by Martin Soderstrom (SWE) who cleared 120cm, followed by a BBQ session. At the official Override Afterparty fueled by Monster Energy on Saturday, athletes and fans partied until the early morning hours.
Bike Paradise Salzburg
4.000 Kilometer pure mountain biking bliss
Some of the best marked mountain bike trail, four international renowned bike parks, established bike regions, and quality certified bike hotels offered in the Salzburger Land region lay the perfect groundwork an unforgettable bike-vacation. The Mountain Bike World Cup at Leogang provides the sportive highlight of this year’s event calendar and preparations for the Mountain Bike World Championships 2012 are already in full swing. The icing on the cake are the convenient summer mountain trails, cottages, lakes and pools for the cool finale of an exciting day.
www.salzburgerland.com
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