Behind the Scenes at the Mont Saint Anne World Cup

Behind the Scenes

AT MONT
SAINT ANNE

WORDS/PHOTOS Ian Hylands

I spent some time talking to Patrice Drouin of Gestev this summer about the work that goes into planning and organizing a World Cup Event. Gestev has put on a World Cup Mountain Bike event at Mont Saint Anne every year for the past 21 years, that's every year since the Mountain Bike World Cup began. That also means that he probably has more experience with putting on this type of event than anyone else in the world, and the if you look at the quality of the Mont Saint Anne World Cup it shows. The event has consistently been ranked in the top 2 in the IMTTO event rankings, winning the 'Event of the Year' title in 2009, and they've also won the UCI Rainbow award for 'Best stop on the World Cup Circuit'. This year Patrice Drouin and Chantal Lachance of Gestev were inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame for their contributions to the sport. Last week we took a closer look at some of the things they've done with the Podium at Mont Saint Anne, this week we'll take a look at what goes into creating the event.


Planning for the Mt Saint Anne World Cup takes about 16 months and there is a lot that goes into it. The UCI events including XC and DH need to be planned out perfectly, and they like to put on a lot of other smaller events as well. Things that give spectators and other athletes something to do, to attract different types of people, and keep the event a success. For the past few years the World Cup has been a part of Velirium, an International Mountain Bike Festival that spans more than a week. It includes the Quebec Cup as well as events such as the Shimano kids race, Dirt Jump events, BMX demos, pump track races and more.






Events in Quebec City before the World Cup weekend normally draw a lot of spectators and raise awareness about the event as well. 10 or 15 years ago there were sprints in the city, more recently there have been dirt jumping demos and urban races. Next year we may see more city events again, perhaps even a new sprint race.







With 16 months of planning there is some overlap that gives Gestev a lot of feedback on how things are going. They can look at this years events and think of things that they might want to do next year. They can experiment with events this year and see how it goes, see what might need to be changed or added for next year. They're always looking for new things and ways to improve the existing ones.

Gestev needs to satisfy the requirements that the UCI, FIS and Redbull etc. put on events and the only way to do that is to have a dependable base of volunteers. So about 10 years ago they decided to create a separate department for recruiting and managing volunteers, and it's been very successful. They now have about 2000 potential volunteers in their database that are interested in working on events, and it's not uncommon for many of them to come back year after year, so they now have a dependable crew with experience at Velirium. This year there were over 700 volunteers that helped to make the event happen, working over 10,000 hours between them. There are about 220 volunteers working every day of the World Cup. A lot of those people end up being course marshal's, but some work in the office, in the press room, and just about everywhere else. It's not just local people either, there are volunteers that come from as far away as France and Mexico to work at Mont Saint Anne.





Keeping it exciting and attracting spectators is always a priority, and it's a task that is not always controllable. From the dates of the event to the weather there are many things that are out of Gestev's control. Weather plays a huge part in the spectator turn out. If the weather is bad then people don't want to make the drive to stand in the rain, and if the weather has been bad for a while and then suddenly gets nice everyone wants to go to the lake or on holidays, not necessarily to the World Cup. If it's been steadily nice every weekend then people are more likely to come to the mountain for the event. The dates are also important to spectator turn out, last year the World Cup was on July 1st, not only was it Canada Day, but it's also moving day. Most rental contracts end on July 1st, so they lost a lot of spectators and volunteers on that day. There also used to be a lot of spectators that came for the 4X when it was earlier in the evening, those numbers seemed to dwindle a little as the event moved further and further into darkness. Now that the UCI has decided to remove that event altogether and it will be interesting to see what happens in 2012. That may be a great night to host something different, hopefully something exciting for both cyclists and spectators alike.





Parties and concerts bring a lot of people out to the event, and they're also a great extra for the volunteers as well as the competitors. In the past the World Cup has been held on the weekend of June 24th, which is Saint Jean Baptiste Day, a Quebec holiday, and Gestev has played to that. They've staged relatively large all night concerts on the Saturday after the DH, however this year the UCI decided to switch the days of the DH and XC, making it a little more difficult for everyone. While the XC racers can definitely party, most of the DH racers were in bed early on Saturday night, preparing for the next days race.






Cross Country is a really big deal in Quebec, many people race, and many people are fans of Marie Helene Premont. A native of Quebec city, Marie Helene is no stranger to the podium, she won silver at the 2004 Olympics, and was second overall in the 2007 Word Cup series. In 2008 she won the World Cup overall, winning a medal in every single event. She's pretty much a hero in Quebec, and many people make the drive to Mont Saint Anne just to watch her race. Needless to say there were many confused people this year that showed up on Sunday to see the XC, only to find that it had happened on Saturday instead. So much for tradition. Marie Helen has decided to compete for at least one more year and with another Canadian woman, Catharine Pendrel, now dominating the sport XC will probably stay a favorite in Quebec for a while longer.





There is a lot the goes into putting on a quality World Cup Event, and from the planning of the actual races to the organizing of all the other activities, Gestev has it dialed. With a crew of about 30 employees they've managed to make the Mont Saint Anne World Cup and the Velirium Festival into an major event, not just a race. This year over 50,000 people attended the event, hopefully 2012 is another award winning year.

Next years event is scheduled for June 19 to 24, 2012. For more info check out the Velirium website