Story, pictures and results from the Arduum Challenge 2007

The 1st ever Arduum Challenge took place this past weekend just north of Mission B.C. at Red Mountain and it was AWESOME! Sure it was obviously the wettest race I've ever attended, but all the racers, volunteers and spectators made it such a great feeling event that I can't wait until the next one out there. Racers from Washington, the lower mainland, the Fraser and Whistler Valleys all came out to take on the course that was built to challenge them. And it did!I am a fan of volunteering, so that is what I did all weekend. My traveling partners on the other hand like to go fast on their bikes, so they were signed up to race. The schedule had a full day of practice on Saturday, so folks were trying to learn their lines and just get the course into their heads. Needless to say the course changed dramatically after each run. Here are a few pics from Saturday's practice:


Saturday wrapped up and we all cruised home to shower, warm up and eat some food.

Sunday would come earlier for some of us that drove to Hope at 1am, but others got enough sleep to get up early, bundle up and head back to Red Mtn. The rain was a little heavier on Sunday, but even more riders showed up to take part in the race. I'd say at least a dozen of the riders that were there were from Washington, so the USA was getting good representation for sure. We had a half dozen girls sign up for the mud wrestling/DH Race comp, which was great to see-good work ladies! My responsibilities for Sunday would be manning the consession while the race was on and then doing the MCing at the awards ceremonies-easy enough.


Practice ran until 10:30 and then racing commenced at about 11:30. With just over 40 riders taking their starts at the top and spectators wandering on the mountain to find a good vantage of the carnage about to unfold, I headed to the BBQ to take my place in the kitchen. The ladies were the first group to make their way down the mountain-muddy, beat and all still smiling!


Once the girls had cleaned all the mud off the course (as if they got it all) it was time for the boys to start arriving at the bottom. The boys were easily just as dirty and beat from the challenge that they'd just undertaken. The Arduum course is steep, rocky, rooty and now full of mud to add flare to things. One by one the muddy riders crossed the line and smiles were everywhere-ok so their white teeth were easier to see due to muddy faces.


Some good action shots of the race from James Healey:


Check Dave's whole Arduum Album HERE.

Shots from Dave M:


Check Dave's Album HERE


A few of my shots from Arduum:


Thanks to the great volunteers and organizers, the results were posted right away and within the hour we were handing out awards and prizes. Thanks to all the following folks and companies for prizing at this year's event and for sponsoring the first annual Arduum Challenge:

-Experience Cycling
-The District of Mission
-Freeride Dawgs
-Pinkbike.com (Spectrum, Maxxis, Dakine, Sombrio, TLD, Gravity, Dangerboy, WTB, Crud Catcher and DT Swiss)
-Rockstar Energy
-Maxxis Tires
-Marzocchi Canada
-No Hype
-Mudd Bunnies
-Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association (FVMBA)


I was given the green light to talk and present all the awards-thanks Greg! Races like this don't happen on their own and you need to think about all that went into this weekend to even make it happen and it blows my mind at how dedicated the folks behind this race (all organizers for that matter) are and how much they love biking to make things like this happen. The builders wanted to showcase what they felt a DH course should look like and I believe they achieved that with Arduum. Thanks to all that were involved-you know who you are! Without further rambling, here are the results from the 2007 Arduum Challenge:

RESULTS:

Name and Times-

Men 40+:
Dave Mackie DNS

Women 20-29:
Danice Uyesugi 06:42.5 and $100 richer!
Karla Stowards 07:34.0
Kat Duffels 08:13.1
Chelsey Stevens 09:02.5
Erin Lewis 10:25.0

Men 30-39:
John Starcevic 06:18.5
Todd Hovde 06:43.5
Cory Hemminger 06:45.5
Chris Sasso 07:14.5
Todd Kaulback 07:23.5
Sean Doughery 13:52.0
Jason Nicol DNS
Anthony Thaulad DNS
Shaun Grundle DNS

Men 17-19:
Eric Pauwels 05:06.0
Kyle Salisburg 05:31.0
Mike August 05:51.5
Matt Dawes DNF

Men 20-29:
Dan Skogland 04:53.0 and $100 richer!
Ewan Fafard 04:56.5
Ryan Walters 05:21.0
Chris Batteman 05:26.0
Rob Stead 05:43.0
Brad Bethune 05:43.1
Kristian Shortr 05:44.5
Greg Grant 05:51.0
Jev Bjorsell 05:52.0
Vaughn Larson 06:01.5
Colin Tobin 06:14.0
Ryan Gustafson 06:17.0
Kevin Tafts 06:31.5
Jerry Knight 06:32.0
Darryl Bartlett 06:35.0
Robert Johnstone 06:47.0
Duncan Kowalski 06:48.5
Bryce Downey 07:11.0
Taylor Bloy 07:14.5
Marc Zuruchen 07:38.5
Christain Berg 07:43.0
Dan Doule 09:51.0
Paul Kalisch DNF


www.arduumchallenge.com


We've also got a forum thread that covers everything from this years challenge in it too. Check it HERE.

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