Following on from newsletter #1... In the winter of 1998 plans to host the first ever World Solo Championships started to take shape. We announced that the town of Canmore would be the background for the first ever World Solo 24 Hour MTB Championships. A number of factors made Canmore a good choice including a World Class Olympic facility. The location had also hosted '24 Hours of Adrenalin' events since 1996, which provided the base infrastructure required. Taking inspiration from the solo athletes (1994 - 1998) the goal was to provide a launching point for the championships. We had no idea who would come, but plans were put in place to provide prize money, televise the event and actually host a live web broadcast. These plans were put in place even though we had no sponsors or budget for the WSC. As the line from the Kevin Costner movie says, "if you build it they will come".

With our WSC announcement made, the attention turned to specifics; a prize purse was announced, I hired Morgan Elliot to produce a one hour television show (Morgan had produced alongside Eco Challenge founder Mark Burnett, later the mastermind behind "Survivor") then Chad Grenier (our marketing manager) started assembling a team to provide live coverage on the internet. Remember the year was 1999 and frankly we couldn't find anyone that was capable of what we required for the web-cast. We hired Andrew Stewart to quarterback the web-cast and Chad started assembling a team of writers and photographers. In retrospect what we did was cutting edge for the time. While all this was taking place our events team was hosting seven other events across North America.

Fast forward to the actual week before the event (July 1999)... typically our team would show up at any given location 7 or 8 days in advance with the trucks and we would start the week long set up. In the case of the WSC event it was not smooth sailing. We had added a significant amount of work to our team, which we felt we had under control. Great news for our Operations Manager - Steve Merker and his wife having their first child meant that he would not be making the trip with us (Kathy was due during the event). As in any good organization we count on great people to execute all the small and large details and we now had a hole to fill. To complicate things some more, I received a call from Ron Henderson the GM of the Canmore Nordic Centre asking if we would allow the local Rotary Club to host the RCMP Musical Ride on both the Monday and Wednesday nights leading up to the event. For those who don't know the RCMP MR, it's the legendary Royal Canadian Mounted Police on their Horses. The local club was fund raising, which required the entire staging area. John Stamstad once said, "You know something unexpected is going to happen (out there during the 24 hour period), it's how you handle the situation that matters". This sudden change was certainly going to be a test as our team lost five solid days for set up; we were without our operations manager and the weather had started to take a turn for the worse. On Thursday morning ~ 5 a.m. I'm standing with Chad, looking with disbelief as it started to snow only one day before the solo and team riders were set to arrive.

Friday morning July 30th, 1999... athletes are arriving and the transition area is coming together, however the weather remains our number one challenge. We have built up a large scaffold structure housing a time lap camera, Andrew has his web-crew in place, and Morgan has her TV team out interviewing athletes as they show up. So who showed up? Endurance legend John Stamstad - USA, Rishi Grewal - USA, Greg Blackwell - Canada, Pat Norwill (first ss rider) - USA, Chloé Lanthier - Canada, Amy Regan-Axelson - USA, Kathy Burns - USA, Chris Scott - USA, Brett Wolfe - USA, Heather Oswald - Canada, Katie Lindquist - USA, Matt Ohran - USA, just some of the 6 women and 30 men that attended the inaugural WSC.

Saturday July 31st, 1999... Race morning, our crew has pulled it off, we are ready, it's cool but sunny, athletes have set up their pit sites within the solo horseshoe style area. The Le Man's start, a 500m run for all solo and teams riders set the stage for the lead racers, Rishi turned out a blistering sub-hour lap on an 18km course which included 1100 vertical feet of climbing. Some 7 hours later the skies give way to rain clouds and the worst is yet to come. As the night sets in, the rain batters down and the temperatures drop, I find myself walking backwards on the course looking for female solo rider Kathy Burns, who we have not seen for a while. It's dark, very cold and muddy, I recall looking down at my feet thankful that I purchased a pair of high-top Nike Gore-tex shoes the week previous. I continue to call out into the darkness, "Kathy", "Kathy Burns" it feels like hours and I'm worried, so much can happen, is she alright? Then I hear a voice and then I see a smile, it's Kathy who is thrilled to see me... and just like that she continues her march looking forward to daylight. The morning comes but it comes with the cost of many cold and wet athletes. The good news is that the rain has stopped. I look over and see Roman Urbina from Costa Rica wearing a bright fluorescent toque lent to him by two ladies from Calgary. His hands holding a cup of soup, he can barely sip the soup he's trembling so much. "Costa Rica is not this cold" he says. Close by Brett Wolfe sits, he too is trembling and soaking wet, never to ask for anything I realize he needs to get into a hot shower and fast. I usher Brett towards the shower room as quickly as possible.

At the end of the race Rishi Grewal and Chloé Landthier are the first ever World Solo Champions. To be honest, the event had so much going on that it's crazy to try and articulate what I witnessed, weeks of human events compressed into such a small time frame...

Up on the stage Rishi and Cholé accepted their hand carved custom awards commissioned by a local artist. To mark the first WSC I had asked for three such awards to be carved, with plans to have the third award hang in our office.  However, just as I was inspired so many years ago in 1994 by Ed Hunt's first 24 hour solo ride, I, like so many others that weekend, was inspired by Brett Wolfe.  The third award therefore, was given to Brett, as the first recipient of the "Spirit of Adrenalin".

What an event! It came together because of so many people. I'm thankful to the crew back in 1999 that did whatever was required to pull off the first WSC. I'm additionally thankful to have a one-hour television show to look back on that shows the conditions that took place that weekend. Also I'm thankful that the Internet provides me with the ability to link to some great stories by both Eric Layland reporting for DirtWorld.com and Pat Norwil writing for Mountainzone.com. I strongly suggest clicking on the links below to their stories. They are a fantastic read and an opportunity to understand some of the history of the World Solo 24 Hour MTB Championships.

Eric Layland for DirtWorld.com:
http://www.dirtworld.com/RACES/RaceStory.asp?id=145

Pat Norwil for Mountainzone.com:
http://classic.mountainzone.com/mtbiking/99/endurance/canmore/story.html


My last memory of the 1999 event was sitting in an editing studio with my friend Morgan and an editor... it's 2:30 a.m. (studio time is expensive and we took the least expensive time)... the room is completely quiet. You could hear a pin drop and I look over to see both the editor and Morgan in tears as they watch the close and personal footage taken months before in the middle of the night, with mud, rain and cold temperatures as Brett Wolfe continues his fight up one of many hills to get on his bike, get a pedal revolution or two in... only to fall and start the fight once again. Thanks Brett, you embody the "Spirit of Adrenalin".

If you have a good story to tell, please email it to: worldchampionships@twenty4sports.com


Stuart

As I sit here typing, the Winter Olympics have started in Vancouver. We are seeing some of the world's best winter athletes gathered to represent their countries and compete for the podium. It's pretty exciting to watch.

Creating venues for sporting competition and excellence has been going on for thousands of years. It's thought the ancient Olympic Games were first held in Olympia, Greece, in 8th century BC. It seems mankind has always enjoyed competition at any level. Looking at the 15 different winter sports events at this year's Olympics I can see that I've only done five of them, all of them fun in their own particular ways but I was never much more than a casual student of those five events and certainly not competitive. Although I don't understand what it takes to be an Olympic bobsledder I respect what it takes to compete at the Olympics; the athletic passion, motivation, determination, mental toughness, hard work, focus and love of the sport are just a few of the things that make me nod my head.

Racing in a 24hr Solo isn't the same as competing in Vancouver but there are similarities. Training and racing in 24's requires a lot of the same traits found in Olympians. The level of competition might be different but the fundamentals are the same - great athletes gathering in a venue to test their abilities amongst other like-minded athletes. Each athlete is there for different reasons but all athletes are unified in their search for competition and the attempt to earn a certain level of respect amongst their fellow athletes, their family, friends and maybe even for themselves.

I'll be on the trainer tonight watching incredible athletes compete in something they love, hoping to absorb a little bit of the experience with them as they put it all on the line. But even as I cheer these Olympians on, a part of me will keep its focus on the WSC in October because that's my sport, that's what I'm passionate about, that's my gathering, and I'm looking forward to it!

Hope you all get to enjoy some of the Olympic spirit of competition over the next few days.

That's all for now, see you in three weeks...

Shaun