World's toughest mountain bike race is coming to Metro Vancouver
A world-renowned mountain biking event is making its Metro Vancouver debut this fall.
The Red Bull Hardline downhill mountain bike race has been in existence since 2014, primarily taking place in North Wales. After debuting globally two years ago in Tasmania, Australia, the event is now coming to Canada.
Cypress Mountain will host the Red Bull Hardline downhill mountain bike race on Oct. 17.
Among the three Lower Mainland-based mountains, Cypress is known as the toughest and most unforgiving trek.
The trail will have elements borrowed from both dirt jumping and BMX that are not allowed in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup races. This course will also feature rock gardens for bikers to navigate, along with jumps, gaps and drops as steep as 10 metres.
“When you think of BC riding, you think of huge rock slabs, massive trees, amazing dirt, kind of first-generation growth,” course designer Dan Atherton said. “To find a location that ticked all those boxes was insanely difficult.”
Two B.C. athletes, Squamish’s Jackson Goldstone and Sechelt’s Gracey Hemstreet, assisted Red Bull Hardline founders Dan and Gee Atherton with the design of the course.
Gracey Hemstreet competing at Red Bull Hardline in Australia back in February. (Brett Hemmings/Red Bull Content Pool)
“After walking the future Red Bull Hardline track, Iām pretty intimidated but excited,” Hemstreet said in a press release. “I think this will be the best one yet.”
“Everyoneās going to be so stoked, and the crowd is going to be huge. Bringing Red Bull Hardline to Canada is something everyone has wanted, and itās super exciting itās finally happening.”
Hemstreet became the first woman to win two Red Bull Hardline events, while Goldstone won the title in 2022.
Red Bull Hardline B.C. will be broadcast live on RedĀ Bull TV and RedĀ Bull Bike YouTube channel on Saturday, Oct. 17. Tickets have yet to go on sale, but more information can be found on the event’s website.