High-stakes competition set for weekend

VERNON – Some of Canada's best mountain bikers will by vying for top spot—and a $10,000 purse—this weekend at the Silver Star Freeride Festival.

The Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour competition, is a two-day bike festival packed with a dirt jump jam, chainless race and bike demos by Norco.

“Freeriding is recognized as one of the most popular disciplines within mountain biking and the Silver Style Jump Jam is the premier slopestyle event in the Okanagan,” Ian Galbraith, summer business manager for the resort said. “The festival showcases some of Canada’s top talent and offers technical competition for the elite athlete and a great show for the spectators.”

The Freeride Festival features the Silver Style Jump Jam, a Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour competition.

The feature event, the Silver Style Jump Jam, goes Saturday with both amateur and open categories. The evening rounds out with the popular best trick competition set for 7:30 p.m. The Jump Jam provides athletes one of the last opportunities of the season to accumulate points towards the number one ranking on the FMB World Tour.

First place will take home $1,000 in prize money. Last year’s top racers were Kelowna riders Tom Van Steenbergen and Casey Groves, and Corbin Selfe from Sicamous. Both Selfe and Van Steenbergen are ranked within the top 100 riders on the FMB World Tour, with Van Steenbergen currently holding 49th place.

On Sunday, riders will take off their chains and challenge the steep terrain of the upper Shazam trail with its signature berms and jumps. Entry to the Chainless Race is only $2 with the potential to win prizes and the entry fee purse shared by the top three in each category. Prize sponsors include North Okanagan Cycling Society, Silver Star, Skyride Cycle, Olympia Cycle and Ski and Sun Country Cycle.

Those visiting the mountain resort can also take advantage of some great winter sales. The resort’s rental shop, Ski Dazzle, is holding a Pay Dirt sale with great savings on ski gear.

Fed by the Comet Express lift, Silver Star Bike Park features 18 dedicated mountain bike trails and jump features and a vertical drop of 760 metres. Following the festival, the bike park is open for bonus weekends Sept 7 and 8 and Sept 14 and 15.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca, call (250)309-5230 or tweet @charhelston.