Darren Berrecloth, Ben Boyko, Graham Agassiz, Greg Watts, Grant Fielder, Sam Pilgrim, Trond Hansen, Martin Soderstrom, Pierre Eduard Ferry, Yannick Granieri, Andreu and Lluis Lacondeguy, Marius Hoppensack, Benny Korthaus, Amir Kabbani, Nicola Pescetto, Andi Wittmann, Linus Sjöholm, Jakub Vencl and almost 50 more riders confirmed their attendance at the 26TRIX dirt jump competition in Leogang during the Out of Bounds Weekend from July 9th to 12th.
The dirt line has been adapted for 2009: A huge sized "Suzuki Air Time Line" beats like all of the jumps seen before in contests worldwide. The Oakley Sick O award, a Crankworx wildcard as well as 10,000 Euros overall prize money will make the riders go big. The iXS European DH Cup, including the Austrian Downhill Championships, and a packed side program will entertain all the gravity fans.
Every year the Out of Bounds Weekend is an important event in the European freeride schedule. Unlike other great events that had to be canceled, because of a lack of sponsors and their commitment in the mountain bike scene, Leogang’s freeride festival is setting new standards in 2009. The riders are also giving their tribute to the Out of Bounds Weekend. Over 60 riders from 16 different countries will travel to Leogang even just because of the legendary 26TRIX dirt jump comp:
Darren Pokoj (AUS)
Clemens Kaudela (AUT)
Daniel Madzia (AUT)
Kevin Frisch (AUT)
Matthias Garber (AUT)
Matthias Gattringer (AUT)
Niki Leitner (AUT)
Philipp Fruehwirth (AUT)
Ben Boyko (CAN)
Darren Berrecloth (CAN)
Graham Agassiz (CAN)
Jakub Vencl (CZE)
Jan Tóth (CZE)
Ladislav Klauz (CZE)
Andreu Lacondeguy (ESP)
David Rodriguez (ESP)
Kike Garcia (ESP)
Lluis Lacondeguy (ESP)
Pierre Edouard Ferry (FRA)
Robin Chauvin (FRA)
Vincent Loris (FRA)
Yannick Granieri (FRA)
Danny Pace (GBR)
Grant Fielder (GBR)
Ricky Crompton (GBR)
Sam Pilgrim (GBR)
Sam Reynolds (GBR)
Amir Kabbani (GER)
Andi Wittman (GER)
Benny Korthaus (GER)
Dominic Amberger (GER)
Dominik Dierich (GER)
Felix Rosendahl (GER)
Florian Berghammer (GER)
Florian Konietzko (GER)
Jens Möller (GER)
Joscha Forstreuter (GER)
Lars Kleuters (GER)
Magnus Baumann (GER)
Marius Hoppensack (GER)
Markus Reiser (GER)
Moritz Zapp (GER)
Sascha Dietzel (GER)
Simon Kirchmann (GER)
Taulan Dernbach (GER)
Urs Reinosch (GER)
Vilmos Füst (HUN)
Nicola Pescetto (ITA)
Umberto Nattino (ITA)
Kevin Katinas (NED)
Trond Hansen (NOR)
Lukasz Koper (POL)
Mischa Breitentein (SUI)
Pascal Breitenstein (SUI)
Ramon Hunziker (SUI)
Jimmy Fors (SWE)
John Alm Högman (SWE)
Linus Sjöholm (SWE)
Martin Söderström (SWE)
Nils Örnjäger (SWE)
Andrew Taylor (USA)
Greg Watts (USA)
The riders have to be prepared: a second even bigger "Suzuki Air Time Line" has been built for 2009 to launch them higher than ever into the Austrian sky. It will be exciting to see, who got the biggest balls to jump that line and which tricks will be shown on the two super-sized doubles in this section of the course. No question, it will pay out to show your skills and craziest tricks for sure. It's not only the Oakley Sick O Award that is waiting for the sickest move of the comp, but also a Kokanee Crankworx Slopestyle Whistler wildcard is given to the one who wins the 26TRIX! OK, Andreu Lacondeguy, Ben Boyko, Andrew Taylor, Greg Watts, Benny Korthaus, Amir Kabbani, Darren Berrecloth, Graham Aggasiz and Trond Hansen are already on the rider list of the upcoming Crankworx, but the next best one in the final results will get a ticket to Canada and his chance to compete at the most well-known slopestyle comp of the year. Be sure, the guys will go crazy to reach that goal.
The 26TRIX will be split up in a qualifying and a final day: qualifications are scheduled on Friday 10th from 2:00pm as well as the Saturday 11th features the semifinals (2.00pm) and the grand finals (5:00pm). Be prepared to watch fifty riders battling for their way into the finals. In the semi finals, 32 riders will have two runs to show their best stuff, the better one counts. The best 15 of them make their way into the finals, which consist of three runs for each competitor. To guarantee the visitors the best hardcore 26-inch action, only the best run counts and determines the winner of the 26TRIX. For all spectators and also the riders Leogang will feature for the first time the Live judging, so the points of each run will be shown right after each rider's run on the scoring board.
But the Out Of Bounds Weekend is not only about the 26TRIX. Austria’s biggest freeride festival has a well packed overall program:
Thursday: open 26TRIX training all day long
Friday: 26TRIX training from 9:00am, Qualifying 26TRIX and training iXS EU DH Cup from 2:00pm, and from 8:00pm big BBQ party with pros and the legendary Bunny Hop contest, where everybody can measure his bunny hop skills with the pros (no attendance fee, but 200 Euros prize money for the winner).
Saturday: from 9:00am on: Training 26TRIX, at 1:00pm an open air gig of the Austrian Reggae band "Die Zuagroasten", from 2pm: seeding runs iXS EU DH Cup and semi finals 26TRIX, as well as from 5:00pm the grand finals of the 26TRIX. The big prize giving will be from 7:00pm on which will announce all the winners from Saturday: first the winners of the Wings for Life Raffle, then the Oakley Sick O Award, and the 26TRIX winners and at the end the new Crankworx wildcard owner. Afterwards a signing session gives you the chance to have a small chat with the riders and to get your personal autograph. From 8:00 pm on, the big “de Buam” party will rock the Sportarena Leogang, right next to the Gondola station. Last year more than 1,000 people partied hard, some even till the early morning hours.
Sunday: from 12:30pm finals iXS European DH Cup and Austrian DH Championships, and followed by the prize giving.
The racers, who are competing at the iXS European Downhill Cup in Leogang, will face a course with a length of 2.3 kilometers and a vertical drop of 480 meters. Bikepark Leogang's downhill track called "Speedster" is known as a technically very challenging one. But not only pro riders are meant to take part. Also amateurs are welcome to register on:
www.ixsdownhillcup.com
Don’t miss this unique festival and contest set-up! Diversified and hardcore mountain bike action is guaranteed!
For further information about the Bikepark Leogang, its events for 2009 and the variety of available trails, please visit:
www.bikepark-leogang.com
