Course Preview: Red Bull Berg Line 2013

The name "Darren Berrecloth" stands for exceptional mountain bike slopestyle tracks. The Canadian freeride pro and track designer is again responsible for the Red Bull Berg Line course which will be ridden by the world’s best on May 19th as part of Europe's biggest mountain bike freeride festival, the iXS Dirt Masters. Heading to Winterberg will be last year’s winner Andreu Lacondeguy (ESP), Red Bull Rampage champion Kurt Sorge (CAN) and fellow American, Cameron Zink, who is one of the most successful freeride athletes of all time. 20,000 fans onsite as well as (live stream viewers) will witness 30 top slopestyle athletes performing tricks that have never been seen in Germany before. Further information about the event is available online here.


30 riders from more than ten nations will be gathering to compete at this year’s Red Bull Berg Line. Together they will motivate each other to perform at their highest level. Darren Berrecloth has designed he perfect course for this: "I love tracks with flow that extract the highest standards of riding. It is all about teasing out the best tricks from the riders." Last year, we saw just that on every feature of the course. "The feedback from the riders was very positive. This year we made a couple of small changes to the obstacle order and modified the final jump. So the show for the audience will be even better than last year”, says Darren.


Plenty of action is guaranteed, because the line up at Red Bull Berg Line promises the crème de la crème from the freeride scene. Renowned Spaniard and crowd’s favorite as well as last year's winner, Andreu Lacondeguy will try to defend his title while Sweden's ‘super-styler’ Martin Soderstrom, and the toothless Brits, Sam Pilgrim and Sam Reynolds as well as Belgium’s high-flyer and Red Bull Joyride 2012 champion Thomas Genon attempt deprive him of a consecutive victory. From overseas last year's Red Bull Rampage winner Kurt Sorge (CAN), freeride legend Cameron Zink (USA) and trick machine Brett Rheeder (CAN) will honor Winterberg with their presence. Peter Henke, who gained a strong seventh place last year and Amir Kabbani will represent the hosting country.


Everyone knows that Red Bull Berg Line is a season highlight itself, but there is no doubt that this year the stakes are a lot higher. This year’s contest will be last chance for FMB World Tour riders to gain valuable ranking points in order to qualify for X Games Munich. For the first time in X Games history, there will be a mountain bike slopestyle contest. Darren Berrecloth is delighted: "This is great for our sport and it shows that we are moving in the right direction. Freeriding is the future!" With such a motivated starting field, Red Bull Berg Line promises to be an outstanding competition with the highest level of slopestyle action.

The preliminary line up for Red Bull Berg Line:


From 1pm on May 19th, riders will try to impress the FMBA certified judges in two qualifying runs. From 7pm onwards they will have two final runs to lay down the perfect line in order to master the criteria of trick difficulty, amplitude, execution and style. Everybody knows: Whoever can kill the track designed by Darren Berrecloth, is definitely one of the top slopestylers in the world. At 4.30pm between the qualifying and the finals the Red Bull athletes will take some time and sign autographs for their fans. And another highlight for the audience will be the best trick contest, held on Saturday, May 18th from 6.30pm in a 45-minute session. Let’s see if someone can stop the Russian, Pavel ‘Cherry-bomb’ Alekhin, who has won every best trick contest so far this season.

For those unlucky fans who cannot attend Red Bull Berg Line, do not despair: The finals on May 19th will be streamed live from 7pm via webcast on the Red Bull bike channel.