The World Cup at Blue Mountain, Ontario, brings the season's 4th sbx – and a course rich in variety built by Jeff Ihaksi (CAN, photo).
Course builder Jeff Ihaksi (CAN), a former World Cup racer with a fourth rank as career's best in 1999 and two-time national champion 1998 and 2000, has put togethe ra diverse running ling plus a total of 34 estimated features and 17 estimated airs.
According to this, the approximately 1,200 meters long course which meanders down several slopes at Blue Mountain through seven banked corners includes some roller and ramp airs such as high jumps, step ups, step overs and step downs.
Ihaksi, Director of White Industries Ltd, is pretty psyched about the course. "There are many reasons to like the course at Blue Mountain. It has a diverse running line that has a long start section followed by a long straight away which is ideal for Cross racing."
According to the father of two the upper course has a wid eopen feel with limited amount and turns and wanders nicely through the terrain on the upper trails on Blue Mountain.
"Look for the at the athletes to carry good gliding speed over the rhythm jumps and rollers found in this section," says the 38-years-old course designer.
The course then has a drastic tempo change where it comes onto Smart Alec, a run that descends down the front face of Blue Mountain. The gradients of the run become steeper which leads to a tightened up course with more turns and fall away airs.
Ihaksi, who is married to former Halfpipe World Cup rider Tara Teigen, explains. "Look for lots of passing through the corners of the lower section as the athletes descend down to the finish."
The Pemberton, B.C. resident also hopes that everyone, organizers as well as riders, will benefit from the location of the resort.
"The great thing about Blue is the amount of people centralized around the mountain. With Toronto nearby there shouldn’t be any shortage of spectators on hand to check out the action."
Check out the course design:
Estimated running length – 1200 meters
Estimated number of features – 34
Estimated number of airs – 17
Roller airs – 8
Ramp airs – 9
Ramp airs include:
hip jump right
hip jump left
step ups
step over’s
step downs
Number of banked corners- 7
