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Biking provincial championships riding into Canmore

“What we’re doing is just encouraging people to come out and ride."

CANMORE – A weekend of mountain biking returns to Canmore this month.

The recently announced Ziggy Gnarly is Aug. 28-29 at the Canmore Nordic Centre and features biking activities for kids and competitions in enduro, cross-country and a six-hour marathon course.

“What we’re doing is just encouraging people to come out and ride,” said Shane Munro, Rundle Mountain Cycling Club's (RMCC) race director. “You can think of it as a race, but it doesn’t matter if you’re first or last, it’s participating and being involved in the whole cycling community because our mountain biking in Canmore is a really strong and social community and we’re just trying to encourage that interactivity in a safe environment.”

The jammed-pack weekend offers a variety of events, targeting more riders who are into different types of racing.

On Saturday (Aug. 28) are the Gnarly XCO Provincial Championships, a 5.7 kilometre course for adults and 4.3 km course for youth with a preset number of loops; the U13 Little Ziggy Trailblazer race; and Gnarly Enduro Provincial Championships, a six-stage race through downhill trails at the nordic centre.

That evening, the RMCC team will head to the Canmore Brewing Company for its Backlot Bash.

On Sunday (Aug. 29), the Gnarly Super 6 Marathon takes place where riders participate in a 14.5 km loop around some new and classic trails in a three and six hour options.

“Without any racing opportunities over the last two years, I think that most of our membership is excited to see, especially our racing membership, a competition come back so they can test their skills and see where their fitness levels are,” said Munro.

The RMCC is one of Canada's largest clubs with more than 700 members.

This year, riders can purchase single event licences from the Alberta Bicycle Association.

With a jammed-pack weekend offering a variety of events and registration predicted to be in the hundreds, RMCC said its taking the necessary health precautions for COVID-19 and the recent influx of wildfire smoke.

“We’re committed to running the race, but as long as it’s safe,” said Munro.

RMCC starts new initiative to retain young girls in cycling

The RMCC kick-started a female-only biking experience pilot project that will introduce girls to a variety of cycling disciplines in hopes of keeping them interested in cycling.

The Bike HerO program, for girls 11-13, teaches disciplines in a female-led group setting such as enduro, cross-country, road, cyclocross and track with the aim that over the next few years it will get more girls involved competitively and continuing biking.

"The idea is to give these girls a sample of what all these different types of racing or biking is all about that they wouldn’t normally have," said Stephanie O'Brien, president of RMCC.

RMCC has many girls in its U5 to U13 programs, but will see a drop off at the competitive age.

According to statistics on the Alberta government website titled, Women and girls in sport, only two per cent of girls ages 12 to 17 receive the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity daily, and only 19 per cent of Canadian women participate in sport, compared to 35 per cent of Canadian men.

One aspect around Bike HerO is its girls-only with female coaches.

"One of the things we really looked at, for example cross country skiing, and how they’ve done a really great job at creating cohorts of friend groups and peer groups," said O'Brien.

The next two programs are Friday (Aug. 20) at 6-8 p.m. at the Glenmore Velodrome in Calgary and Saturday (Aug. 21) at the Canmore Nordic Centre between 10 a.m. to noon.

This year, RMCC is piloting the program on girls, but the intention is to create a males program as well.


Jordan Small

About the Author: Jordan Small

An award-winning reporter, Jordan Small has covered sports, the arts, and news in the Bow Valley since 2014. Originally from Barrie, Ont., Jordan has lived in Alberta since 2013.
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