The 20th Annual Chile Challenge, event #3 in the Mountain States Cup Championship Series is taking on a life of its own. Each year the event brings more and more riders and their support teams to Angel Fire, a testament to the warm welcome that they receive from the resort and community. This year’s race takes on international implications and as an added bonus, will host a national championship event on Angel Fire’s legendary behemoth scary-as-all-get-out mountain-cross course.

Riders from across the globe will compete in two separate mountain-cross events, downhill, cross-country and super-d (a hybrid of cross-country and DH). Not since the visit of the World Cup has Chile taken on such stature in the domestic and international racing scene. The 2008 version has garnered the following accolades: it’s a UCI C2-level DH and 4X, it’s a stop on USA Cycling’s prestigious Gravity and XC Mountain Bike National Calendars, it's a part of the National Mountain Bike Series for Super-D, DH and 4X, it'll serve as National Championships for pros for 4X (getcher UCI points here!) and is an automatic World's Team Qualifier for Juniors and Pros on the gravity side.

Why are all these important? Let’s get to them in order:

1. UCI status: one of the goals of the MSC is to develop domestic riders so that they can compete internationally in World Cup events. We feel that in order to develop riders that can win at the sport’s highest level, we need those very same riders to compete against the best that the world has to offer. In this case, it means World Cup. The problem is that riders need UCI (Union Cyclist Internationale, our sport’s global governing body) points in order to be eligible. There are only 3 events in the US that offer these points – Chile is one of them. It’ll offer points for both 4X events and the DH.
2. USAC National Mountain Bike Calendar (MBNC): USA Cycling is our sport’s national governing body. The national calendars that they’ve put together feature the very best events from around the country for both Gravity and Cross-Country riders. Eligibility for this distinction is based upon prize purse, production excellence and quality of venue. Winners of USAC NMBC events earn precious points for towards their national ranking, increased exposure for sponsors and consideration for national and trade teams.
3. National Mountain Bike Series – the NMBS is mountain biking’s de facto national series. The NMBS designation attracts riders from all over the country who’re chasing points in that series.
4. 4X (mountain-cross) National Championships – the winners of Sunday’s 4X (the second of the weekend) will be awarded the stars and stripes jerseys that designate national champions. They’ll also receive and automatic spot on USAC’s World Championship Team, thus earning the privilege of representing the United States at World Championships in Europe this summer.
5. Automatic World’s Team Qualifier for Juniors and Pros (DH and MX) – the terrain that our kids and pros will see in Europe is quite a bit more challenging than most of the stuff in the US. Angel Fire’s courses are a notable exception. Based upon the quality of the courses USAC has designated the year’s Chile Challenge as an automatic qualifier for their World’s squad. Winners in the JR Expert and Pro categories in DH and MX get an automatic spot.

There’s a ton of other stuff going on. Toyota FJ will be on-site offering ride-and-drives on an off-road trials course. There’ll be video premiers, live music, autograph sessions with pro riders and even a clunker criterium. Online registration closes at midnight on Wednesday. On-site registration will be open throughout the weekend.

For all the information that you could ever want including camping, tech/expo, a complete UCI points scale, the opening of Chile Pepper bike shop at the base of AFR and just about everything else including a complete schedule of the weekend’s festivities please visit the Chile Challenge page at www.racemsc.com! Media inquiries may be directed to the phone number below. For all the event news head to the homepage of the series. We’ll be blogging from the venue as much as possible. There may even be a little video for you to check out.

See you at the races!
Mike McCormack, Series Director, MTN States Cup
970-333-1159
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NEXT UP:

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