June 21st, 2011 1:44pm
With a little bit of luck and a brake from the UCI World Cup downhill season, the second annual Triple Dip Downhill race in Sol Vista pulled off a spectacularly fun event. Exactly what downhill racing needs. Lots of runs, lots of fun, and one of the biggest prize purses in the DH scene.
If you haven't heard of this race before it is okay. Because it is only in its second year. But the word is officially out and from all accounts of the weekend - this is an event to put on your calendar - you have now been informed.
Lets start with the format - shall we? First of all. This event is an omnium - that means - the lowest total time on multiple runs wins. The Triple Dip was a three race format - each run on different courses! Add in the fact that one of the runs was a chainless run and you have a cool event, scratch that, make that a super cool event.
But as we all know it takes more than a cool format to make a good race, it takes a community. And the town of Granby Colorado stepped up to make this event a great one. With a strong community backing, the event organizers were also able to pull together one of the biggest prize purses in all of mountain bike racing. $25k to be exact. You see where this is headed don't you?
great race idea - check
great location - Sol vista - check
great town support - Granby Colorado - check
huge prize purse - check
great riders showing up to claim big money - check
So yes, all the ingredients were there and many top riders showed up to throw down for the big money. The pro purse paid down to 12th place for the men.
It was great to see some of the young guns not scared to go toe to toe with likes of Minnaar, Neethling and Hannah. To be exact, I'm talking about Mikey Sylvestri, and Mitch Ropelato. Sylvestri actually won the chainless downhill race over Minnaar and the rest of the field only to see Minnaar come back and use his size (momentum) and smooth style to take the lead back in the chainless downhill run. Both of these young riders are extremely talented, fast and very personable.
Jill Kitner once again took the victory in Pro Womens over Jackie Harmony. Unfortunately it was another dismal womens field with only 6 pro women. I am not sure if we need to adjust the womens courses to be a bit more friendly or what but the US is sorely lacking in women competitors at a time where Canada is blowing up the womens fields. We just need to have a few more girls to challenge the Kitners, Buhls and Harmonies and wave the flag for the US... But I digress....While Kitner had a solid 19 second lead after two runs, she still had to ride hard because one flat could throw away the whole race and Harmony was there to scoop up the first place cash if she did. But Jill kept it together riding fast and smooth for the big money payout and Harmony consolidated her second place to get a tidy little sum.
AMATEURS
Don't think all the prizes were lavished on the PRO's. SRAM stepped up to give each amateur class winner a full SRAM drive train for their efforts. That's sweet haul and SRAM should get kudos for that.
The complete results from this years Triple Dip can be found here -TRIPLE DIP RESULTS
A final kudos has to be given to Sol Visa. Matt and the team of trail builders along with Sol Vista mountain have been super impressive in their passion and support of mountain biking in general. Once Sol Vista made the commitment to get into the mountain biking scene, they have been outstanding. Hosting the US National Championships for two years that included downhill, four-cross and cross country, continually building trails and hosting events like this one has to put them on the top of your list to check out at least once each summer.. Even though it may not have the total vertical of Winter Park has just down the road, combining the two resorts makes this a winning weekend of riding. As an out of stater, having raced at Sol Vista for the nationals, I loved the Granby hospitality, the Colorado feel and enthusiasm that Sol Vista has for our sport.
Next year, the Triple Dip is on my Schedule for sure...make it part of yours.
Location: News >> Minnaar and Kitner Triple the fun at the Triple Dip in Sol Vista
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