Results from First Annual 'Shoot the Trails' benefit in Bellingham, WA

Oct 20, 2011

by Brad Walton

To say that Bellingham, WA has a bit of a riding scene is quite the understatement after attending the First Annual 'Shoot the Trails' Awards benefit. The stoke was beyond high when over 450 (!) mountain bike enthusiasts gathered downtown to celebrate Whatcom County area trails in a fundraiser for Galbraith Mountain.

Lined up around the block!

Hosted by the WHIMPs(Whatcom Independent Mountain Pedalers) aka WMBC(Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition) and run by volunteers, the First Annual event was a huge success! The Saturday, October 15th evening event contained 16 video entries and 40+ photo prints to admire, plus raffles from local bike shops and manufacturers including two full-suspension bike frames! Several other area businesses contributed to the prizes for winning videos and photos. The $15 entry fee went directly back to the trails, and with 450 people in attendance, well, you do the math!

Huge crowd of Bellingham's finest mountain bikers!

The vibe was inspiring to say the least in a venue designed to pump up the Bellingham community. Nearly everyone in town who rides was there, regardless of age, skill level, or style of riding preference. The whole idea is to get people actively involved in keeping our community heading towards progress, and uniting a crowd of this many riders in one place sure proved to be the way to go about it! Galbraith Mountain and other area trails are enjoyed as multi-user friendly, so it was no surprise to see trail running videos too. Videos were limited to four minutes and were judged by the audience. All the videos and photos were easy to relate to for Bellingham area residents, capturing the essence of our trails through building, riding, running, and generally having a good time in the green northwet woods!

Photo contest winners (left to right) David Waugh, Gary Bachman, Brad Walton, and MC's Val and EB.

Young B'ham ripper wins a new shredmobile!

First Place:
"Leave A Trail" by Brad Walton

Shoot the Trails 2011, Brad W

by bradwalton

Views: 58,499 Faves: 1,174 Comments: 96

Second Place:
"Builders vs. Loggers" by Andy Tran

Builders V. Loggers

by runwithscissor09

Views: 110,137 Faves: 2,995 Comments: 136

Third Place:
"Karma Kids" by Matt Durand

Max, Lila, Josiah on Karma

by driftboatdan

Views: 15,535 Faves: 71 Comments: 13

The additional 13 awesome video entries from the the contest can be found here on the WMBC site.

Galbraith Mountain, just minutes from downtown Bellingham, is home to famous trails such as Unemployment Line, Evolution, Atomic Dog, and Mullet. After a busy season of logging, the trails could really use some help. Money from the 'Shoot the Trails' event will benefit Galbraith in the form of tools as well as covering the liability for the privately-owned mountain, but the trails don't build themselves so we need you out there digging at trail days this winter season!

This Sunday, October 23rd starts off the 2011 fall trail maintenance season with the freeride crew starting a rebuild on lower Mullet trail. This was announced at the 'Shoot The Trails' event, and will be sponsored by Fanatik Bike who will be providing food and volunteers for the day.

Special thanks to WMBC for organizing the event, to the volunteers both on and off the trail, and to the MANY Bellingham area businesses for your support and contributions!

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bradwalton
Member since Dec 11, 2007
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40 Comments

25 3

carbonlite (Oct 20, 2011 at 14:51)

How are first place and second place not switched? I mean no offence both awesome and well done and everyone involved are my favourite people ever for build awesome trails, but... the second place video was much nicer in pretty much every regard...

12 0

KennyKillsIt (Oct 20, 2011 at 15:09)

i thought the same

harveync (Oct 20, 2011 at 15:16)

give me two reasons why they should be switched.

11 0

KennyKillsIt (Oct 20, 2011 at 15:25)

visually I liked the second one more, just my opinion. It flowed more and made me wanna go out and ride. Both had their strong points for sure. The winner defiantly made me want to go out and build which seemed to be the focus of this competition so I do see why it took the cake. The winner focused more on build then ride, whereas the second place video took a view of both. It had a more balanced feel to it. It's a tough call that I wouldnt want to have to make (The fire roost wins extra cool points).

Sorry this isnt a very professional analysis on my part, I'm really tired right now and should quite the interwebs for a while

11 0

kYing (Oct 20, 2011 at 15:32)

The first video is all about trail building which I think is much more appropriate for the type of event held (fundraiser, building awareness, etc.). Shows that mountain bikers contribute more than just shredding the mountains. Sure the production value of #2 is better than #1, but you have to put and see everything in context.

ebxtreme (Oct 20, 2011 at 15:38)

Videos and Photos submitted were to invoke the essence of mt. biking in in our area. Thankfully, a BIG part of that "essence" is a strong ethos of trail building - hence the abundance of killer riding - and Brad pretty much nailed it with his vid. Videos and photos were voted on by the crowd and the folks that ride and build our trails spoke. Andy's was really well done and several others were in the running as well. Overall, it was a stoke-filled evening and we were grateful that 16 folks submitted videos and we had 40+ rad photos for the comp. Many thanks to the shops, manufacturers and local businesses that supported the event. The B'ham bike community rocks. Cheers, EB

KennyKillsIt (Oct 20, 2011 at 15:43)

@kYing thanks for wording it better than me

Looks like a swell event, wish I could have been a part of it

Czauder1 (Oct 20, 2011 at 16:29)

It was about trail building, but there is still should be a bit of riding in a first video instead of all those photos... I mean like, you know... that's what trails are for!

MathiasWensveen (Oct 20, 2011 at 16:57)

I personally liked the second edit because there was a story explaining the current situation.

runwithscissor09 (Oct 20, 2011 at 20:07)

All I can say is that Brad did an excellent job documenting, and I can live being second to him

duppencf (Oct 21, 2011 at 8:41)

Good building. Good riding. Good folks.

harveync (Oct 21, 2011 at 12:00)

i agree with EB, brad nailed it. i think he opened the eyes of many people as to how much work and effort goes into building awesome trails. trails don't build and maintain themselves!

bradwalton (Oct 22, 2011 at 9:04)

Thanks everyone for the props! I was surprised to have the vid chosen as first since there were so many great riding videos, especially Andy's video that was so professionally done, in edit, storyline, cinematography, and content. The contest is about 'shooting the trails', and I think several other videos captured the stoke of riding much better than my own. I wanted to do a piece to showcase what can happen with vision and dedication, to motivate riders to find their own unique, creative outlet for filming and photos. I was especially happy to see Andy's piece that explored the same values, and thought for sure it was an instant win. It's not really about a contest, it's all about being in the woods with friends and creating something from nothing!

northwestdhdad (Oct 18, 2011 at 8:49)

Yeah Walton! Yeah Tran! You both almost got beat by three future rippers!

garylucas (Oct 20, 2011 at 20:13)

Awesome to see the future generations,riding trails on the most basic of bikes,and even better seeing them taking hits and getting str8 back up and getting on with their rides,that is the essence of progress,brush yourself off and get back to it,that's what it's all about .Again awesome.

Gringo.

reverend (Oct 25, 2011 at 20:06)

The jump crash in the third film garnered the loudest groans/amped cheers of the evening. Same trail my daughters cut their teeth (and scraped their shins) on. Fun evening to be a part of for sure. Ride global, build local.

dirtman04 (Oct 20, 2011 at 17:45)

im pretty sure the first place was chosen because it had mostly BUILDING in it which the contest was focused on. sure the 2nd one was sick riding but id didnt have a lot of building. just talk about building

thecameraguy (Oct 21, 2011 at 13:35)

Big ups to Brad, Andy, and EB and all the locals here in Whatcom County doin your thing! Way to make mountain biking in the ham enjoyable for everyone. Great edits, wish I could have given y'all a run for your money

-Ben

neimbc (Oct 20, 2011 at 17:11)

I love the little kids - the dog running ahead, the tough little guys in full face going for big air and coming up short - that's pure mountain biking fun!

anastaputra (Oct 20, 2011 at 21:30)

they just cut the tree to build the trail....... in my country.....thats means trouble

evanwm (Oct 20, 2011 at 23:00)

brad walton is an extremely talented photographer. that being said, I think the mastermind behind the 2nd place vid deserved 1st. no disrespect to brad though, just many many props and big ups and what not to andy tran.

brule (Oct 21, 2011 at 9:02)

Both videos were great, and it was a public voting system - everyone that came in got a photo and a video ballot to submit after the shows all aired. 450 ballots and these are the results. It was a great evening for sure.

Lingon (Oct 21, 2011 at 14:50)

Agree, both vids are great but from an artistic perspective Brad Waltons piece is in another league. We have a worthy winner.

nortonwhis (Oct 21, 2011 at 9:29)

bellingham would be the first place i would go if i got kicked out of canada. such a cool town with good food, good riding and lots of good people.

ebxtreme (Oct 21, 2011 at 12:51)

Ironically, a lot of riders/builders moved here because of the proximity to B.C.!

gasman (Oct 20, 2011 at 15:21)

Whaaaaaa?!?! how did i miss this?! it seems like a lot of events on here are advertised after it happens..

brule (Oct 20, 2011 at 16:17)

This was a local event in which we chose to attend - advertising was all local too. Posting info about the evening after the event was to give recognition for a great evening that impressed us thoroughly.

pingntodd (Oct 20, 2011 at 21:26)

all 3 of the videos were fantastic. koodoos to all who participated/ride/play and support their local trails. we all love them so lets all dig in..........no pun intended!

GGstp0 (Oct 21, 2011 at 12:22)

Song of the first video ? Please.

kd12 (Oct 20, 2011 at 12:52)

Some of the work in there is really great. Wish I had a spot to build something like that. Great work.

cooner666 (Oct 20, 2011 at 17:14)

GO OUT AND BUILD A TRAIL!!

traildigger15 (Oct 20, 2011 at 17:42)

dang... my first year outside bellingham and stuff starts happening. looks fun, wish i could have been there

simcik (Oct 18, 2011 at 8:00)

Congrats on the "W" Brad, well deserved

Laurence-CE (Oct 20, 2011 at 12:58)

Congrats Brad...digging that video...was killer!

dirtbagluvin (Oct 20, 2011 at 14:10)

Good times!! What a weekend, eh Tyler?!!

shrockie (Oct 20, 2011 at 14:26)

Congrats to the winners.. Great Work!! special shout to Emcee EB!

drop20 (Oct 20, 2011 at 15:37)

go brad! love the video! wish i could have been at the competition

paulinator FL (Oct 20, 2011 at 17:35)

The last one just makes you smile! Very cool.

rafelehner (Oct 20, 2011 at 20:00)

i really miss bellingham. looks fun, wish i was a part of it.

tackytraks (Oct 21, 2011 at 12:49)

Bham Represent! stoked you guys.