Voice of BC's Professional Bed & Breakfast Industry

Canada’s best off road triathletes will be crowned in the  2010 La Terra XTERRA Canadian National Championships being held in Whistler September 5 (the Labor Day long weekend).  This race offers a Sport and Championship distance event along with a relay division on the Championship Course.    Athletes compete in several different five year age divisions with the chance to earn places to race in Maui at the World Championships.  A total of 20 Maui spots are available in both male and female divisions.  The professionals compete for a prize purse in excess of $10,000.

Just a week later, September 11 and 12, the Red Bull 5000 Down returns to Whistler for the second time.  This is a mass start downhill mountain bike race.  Some 250 men and women, all starting simultaneously, decend more than 2,182 meters (7,159 feet) with a vertical drop of 1,530 meters (5,020 feet) in order to cross the finish line in Whistler Village.  Riders will need to maintain constant physical and mental alertness if they are to keep in control for the entire descent, expected to take about 20 minutes for the fastest riders.

The starting point is the snowcapped peak of Whistler Mountain.  Riders then streak past the Roundhouse Lodge and enter the famous Whistler Mountain Bike park at the top of the Garbanzo Express chairlift, finally riding the Park’s giant slalom course and crossing the finish line.  Over the course of two days participants are challenged by bar to bar racing as they ride side by side and deal with fatigue, difficult dirt trails, jumps, stunts, and root-strewn terrain.

The event draws some of the greatest North Anerican and European riders including 2008 World Champions Gee Atherton and Rachel Atherton and 2009 Red Bull Rampage winner Brandon Semenuk.  The top five men share a cash purse of $9,500 and the top three women will share $3,500.

Just watching these hard fought events is bound to bring on some sore muscles, so make sure you’ll have the most comfortable of beds by booking your Whistler Bed & Breakfast accommodation with one of BC’s Best BnBs!