The Rocky Mountains have seen World and Canada Cups, the 24 Hours of
Adrenalin, and many other smaller mountain-bike events, but the Rockies
have never before seen
the likes of the TransRockies Challenge. This August, 700 mountain bikers,
in teams of two, will leave the starting line in Fernie, B.C., and ride
more than 600 kilometres over seven days. The bikers will cross the
Continental Divide three times as they head for the finish line in Canmore,
Alta. The TransRockies Challenge runs from Aug. 11-17, 2002. The entry fee
for each team is $3,000, with total prizes worth $20,000.

During the race, riders will face a total elevation gain of 9,000 metres
(29,500 feet) as they work their way north and east toward Canmore in what
the organizers, Read and Co. Event Management and Europe-based upsolutMV,
are calling the toughest race in
the world.

“It’s a killer course,” said Ward Cameron, who spent weeks on his bike
last summer designing the course. “It’s going to beat and bruise the best
of them.” Cameron described the TransRockies as a wilderness event.
“It is in the middle of nowhere….It’s vast open spaces with no people,”
he said. “I think that’s what some of the competitors will find
intimidating.” During the race, both members of a team must be within two
minutes of one another or be penalized.

Andrea Thiessen, director of event operations with Read and Co., said all
that remains now is some tweaking. So far, interest in the race has been
huge, Thiessen said, in part because of the success of the four-year-old
German event, the TransAlp Challenge, which served as the template for the
TransRockies. TransAlp participants race from Mittenwald, Germany, to Riva
del Garda, Italy, and last summer, the TransAlp drew the interest of 4,000
teams, though only 350 were able to enter.
Online registration began on Feb. 5 at www.transrockies.com.