Live on Pinkbike: Kona International Rookie Games

The staging grounds for aspiring riding pros in Europe’s biggest youth-oriented event will be Bike Park Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, which again this year will be hosting the Kona International Rookie Games from the 6th to the 9th of August 2015. Encompassing all genres of the sport, the event will feature the iXS Rookies Cup, the O`Neal Rookie of the Year Slopestyle, the Pump Track Challenge, and premiering this year - the Dual Slalom Race. Headlining the event will be the fierce competition for the unofficial title of Downhill World Champion for the U17, U15, and U13 age groups in the iXS Rookies International Championships.

The goal of the Kona International Rookie Games is both to provide young riders with an opportunity to get experience in an international setting as they work towards becoming professionals, and to do it in a relaxed atmosphere. Rafal Wypor from Poland was able to bring his children last year to the unique event and will be bringing the whole family this year. “It’s an amazing idea! My kids have been racing since they were seven years old, and at some point the national races just weren’t keeping up with the youth. The International Rookie Games is definitely the next level for the kids. This year my entire family will be participating in races in Poland and abroad, but the highlight is definitely going to be the Kona International Rookie Games!”

For the first time all race-highlights will be live broadcasted via pinkbike. There will be a professional live broadcast for regional TV-stations and that will be brought to homes worldwide via online livestream. Even the commentator is well known: Si Patton himself. Stay tuned for the detailed timetable, that will be announced soon.



iXS Rookies Cup and the iXS Rookies International Championships
Running from August 7th to 9th, young riders will be charging down the mountain at Bike Park Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis on two-wheels and adrenaline. This will be the fifth stop of the iXS Rookies Cup, and so not only will there be the individual event winners, but will count as seeding runs for the iXS International Rookies Championships, and the ‘official’ unofficial title of Downhill World Champion in the U17, U15, and U13 age groups. As an added bonus, there will be a Family Challenge on Sunday for all those brave and enthusiastic parents. Pride goes to the winners, father-son and mother-daughter teams with the fastest overall times will stand together on the podium.

O`Neal Rookie of the Year Slopestyle - FMB bronze Event
There will be an added way for all those young Slopestylers to really get their racing weekend money’s worth. The event promising to have the biggest air on August 7th and 8th is the O’Neal Rookie of the Year Slopestyle. This is a very special event for all U19 age groups and is the only youth slopestyle competition in the FMB series; a specially-built and age-specific course is right at the base of the bike park providing front-and-centre viewing of these aspiring pros. The course boasts six obstacles, including Step-Up-Step-Down, Road Gap, dirt jumps, and quarter pipe and will have the young slopestylers showing off their skills and what they’ve already mastered.



Rookies Pump Track Challenge
Pump it up! First left, then right, and a quick back again! As if there weren’t already enough going on, the Rookies Challenge Pumptrack will be held on August 7th. Yet another specially designed course at the base of the Bike Park will see boys and girls in U19, U17, U15 and U13 groups duel it out in KO style rankings to determine a definitive victor!


Dual Slalom Race
Head-to-head racing is more exciting to watch and pushes athletes harder, and so organisers have this year introduced a Dual Slalom Race to be held on August 8th to complement the pumptrack event. Again boys and girls from U19, U17, U15 and U13 groups will be pitted against each other on the same track in a race to the finish line. In KO style, the small victories will raise athletes higher and higher to the final showdown and then to the champion!


Programme for the Kona International Rookie Games 2015

6th of August: Welcome in Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis
7th of August: Pump Track Challenge
7th-8th of August 2015: iXS Rookies Cup
7th-8th August 2015: O`Neal Rookie of the Year Slopestyle - FMB Bronze Contest
8th August 2015: Dual Slalom Race
9th August 2015: iXS Rookies International Championships + Family Challenge

Registration for all events is open starting June 9th and can be done on the Bike Park SFL website: www.bikepark-sfl.at

All the information about the Kona International Rookie Games is available at
the Bikepark homepage or Facebook

Below you'll find some images last years' event.

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MENTIONS: @si-paton, @konaworld, @Bikepark-Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis

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