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NORBA brings whole show to Schweitzer

Published: Jul. 15, 2005

As the Tour de France soars high into the Pyrénées this weekend, an equally exciting high-country battle will be fought in northern Idaho as the NORBA National mountain-bike series returns to the Schweitzer Mountain resort.

The Schweitzer stop is the first this season to feature all six NORBA disciplines: marathon, cross-country, short track, downhill, super-descent and mountain cross. It’s the NORBA series’ third consecutive visit to the resort, and race organizers have spent the past two weeks cutting new single-track, roping off the marathon course and building the four-cross track. They anticipate more than 1000 participants.

“We feel like we’ve made major improvements in several areas, specifically the mountain-cross course and the cross-country course,” said Patrick Werry, Schweitzer’s events manager.

The mountain-cross course lacks the size and stature of the monstrous four-cross course at last weekend’s World Cup in New Mexico. Still, racers gave it passing grades after Friday’s practice run.

“Comparing NORBA and World Cup courses is apples and oranges, but this is the best one on the NORBA series,” said Jill Kintner (Yeti), World Cup four-cross points leader and race favorite. “The berms and jumps aren’t super huge, but there’s room to maneuver and pass.”

Also receiving good marks was the downhill course, which shoots riders 1600 vertical feet from the summit of the ski mountain down to the resort base.

“The thing is super rocky and bumpy the whole way,” said Duncan Riffle (Yeti), who placed eighth here last year. “The only way to win is just not to use your brakes and pick aggressive lines.”

The downhill race will be the third consecutive battle between 2003 world champion Greg Minnaar (G-Cross Honda) and Aussie newcomer Jared Graves (Yeti). Graves narrowly defeated Minnaar at the Deer Valley NORBA on June 19, but Minnaar squeaked by the Australian in New Mexico by 0.2 second for the win.

Like Minnaar, a handful of top World Cup cross-country athletes have decided to stay in the United States an extra week to race on the NORBA circuit, including Specialized teammates Liam Killeen of Great Britain and Sid Taberlay of Australia. The two will have their hands full on the bumpy, 10.1-mile circuit, which will likely favor power riders Adam Craig (Giant) and Geoff Kabush (Maxxis). Also in the mix will be Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher), who has scored impressive results after recovering from seven broken ribs suffered in a crash in April.

Most cross-country riders agree that no matter what happens in the race, conditions are already a step up from last year. Extremely dry weather turned the 2004 race into a windy, dusty ordeal, and many riders opted to race with medical facemasks.

“It was horrible. You could barely see the rider in front of you the dust was so bad,” said Heather Irmiger (Tokyo Joe’s).

Irmiger, who scored a career-best second-place finish at the Deer Valley NORBA, will look to derail Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna), who has been the most dominant female North American cross-country racer of the past month, winning the Deer Valley race and finishing fourth at the World Cup.

The event runs Friday through Sunday evening, with final podiums at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

NORBA National Series
July 15-17
Saturday
8 a.m.: Super D category race
3 p.m.: Men’s pro cross-country race
3:15 p.m.: Women’s pro cross-country race
5:30 p.m.: Pro mountain-cross finals

Sunday
7:30 a.m.: Marathon race
11 a.m.: Pro downhill race
2 p.m.: Pro women short-track race
2:30 p.m.: Pro men short-track race