June 19, 2009 (Victoria, BC) – Team OrganicAthlete Victoria Fueled By Green Cuisine is pleased to announce a new off-road series in Victoria, The Durian Cup. It will be held on four consecutive Thursday evenings, beginning June 25th. Sign-up begins at 6:30pm, and racing begins at 7pm. All levels are welcome, and there will be a fair range of categories (A, B & C) to race in. The races are not conventional formats, with more of a focus on fun and creativity than all-out racing (although harder efforts will generally be rewarded!) Series winners will be awarded unique trophies, and we will also recognize the top Woman, Junior, Master and Vegan! Tons of draw prizes will be awarded each evening as well.

Events will be at the Mt. Work/Hartland mountain bike park in cooperation with SIMBS, the entry fee is a meager $3, and we can allow a single-time free club ‘tryout’, but after that a CyclingBC license will be required ($41, can be purchased at any event if needed.)

Race nights and details are as follows:

– June 25th – Mystery Time Trial: Riders will be required to put away watches & bike computers, and the A’s , B’s and C’s will each be told what the ‘winning’ lap time is, and will then set off to try and ride a lap as close to that time as possible! There will be three laps, and so three attempts to ride the closest time. The only hint is as you finish each lap, you will be told what your lap time was, so you can try and pace yourself for the next attempt..

– July 2nd – Get Oriented!: Riders will be given a map at the start of the race, and will have to race their way to several orientation stations to collect the appropriate marker — you’ll have to figure out the fastest route!

– July 9th – Poker Night: Laps will be very short, but each time around riders will collect a playing card, and can stop when they want to play their hand against their fellow racers. Hands will be played in groups of five players (first five to stop), so will you stop early, or do more laps and collect more cards for a potentially stronger hand??

– July 16th – Gravity Challenge Relay: Ideally raced as a team of two, riders may also go solo. Best to have a climber and a descender. The climber will climb up to the top of a designated trail, where their descender will be waiting – tag, and the descender is off, fastest teams take home the glory! A’s will climb up to Jelly Roll, B’s will climb up to Lumpy Pants, and C’s will climb up to Who’s Yer Daddy – all descenders will come down same course from there down.

For more information and updates, please visit the OA Victoria Chapter website here.

If you’d like to be emailed reminders, as well as race results, race reports, and other relevant information, send an email to victoria@organicathlete.org and we’ll add you to our notification list for the series.

The event poster can be located here.

We hope you can make it out!

PS – Why is it called The Durian Cup you may ask? If one is familiar with the durian, it is a large, knobby fruit, who’s flesh has an aroma reminiscent of rotting trash….not unlike the namesake of our mountain bike park: the Dump. =)

PPS – A big thank-you to our sponsors: Green Cuisine, Vega, Oak Bay Bikes, Eatmore Sprouts, the Victoria Soap Exchange, Pink Sugar (vegan!) Cupcakery and Crag X Climbing Gym!