World Cup Question Marks Erased
Series stops at Houffalize, Belgium and Windham Mountain in New York are on as scheduled for 2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.
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By Singletrack.com
Following news that the organizers of the Windham Mountain World Cup stop had cleared their funding hurdles and will indeed host the last stop of the 2010 series, the mayor of Houffalize, Belgium is saying that the town and organizers have saved their race.
In a statement on the Houffalize World Cup Web site, Mayor Marc Caprasse said the town and the event organizers will colloborate to cover costs, reported to be in the neighborhood of $125,000, in the absence of a main sponsor. The event, which according to the UCI attracted 20,000-plus spectators to last year’s edition, is too important to the town’s economy, Caprasse said.
The Houffalize World Cup, the second stop of the season, is set for May 1 and will feature cross-country and 4-cross. In 2009, Julien Absalon won the men’s XC and Marga Fullana the women’s. Jared Graves won the men’s 4-cross and American Jill Kintner won the women’s event.
The Windham Mountain World Cup is the first such race in the U.S. in five years. However, the event was looking shaky in late December due to funding concerns similar to Houffalize. But the Aug. 28-29 event was salvaged after a non-profit group was formed and raised $100,000 from various entities, including Windham Mountain Resort, The Windham Chapter of the Catskill Mountain Foundation, Greene County, the Green County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the Town of Windham.
“The key to a successful Windham World Cup event is the collaborative community partnership that has been developed,” said Nick Bove, a race committee member. “We all look forward to the opportunity to showcase this community to thousands of regional, national and international visitors from diverse backgrounds and places…”