Minnesota Mountain Bike Series

August 19, 2012 COGGS, the organization that has brought you both the DirtSpanker and Powder Monkey, will again host the Great Hawk Chase at Lester Park in Duluth, MN. Featuring their newest trail project, the Lester-Amity Trails, the Great Hawk Chase is sure to become a must do event on the MNMBS calendar.

The Lester-Amity trails had long been a favorite, underground place to ride in Duluth until the fall of 2009 when an agreement with the City of Duluth was established to legitimize, rehabilitate and make sustainability improvements to this trail system. After hundreds of hours of work, a 4 mile loop of buff, flowing singletrack has been established along the gorgeous banks of Amity Creek. This trail is classic IMBA style singletrack with great flow and an amazing number of scenic vistas of the river, but has a fair number of tight, rooty areas for the technical rider to excel was well.

A portion of the race course will be the Lester Park cross country ski trails to allow for passing opportunities and also a lead-out before the start of the singletrack. The ski trail allows for a perfect race start as it is a long, gradual uphill that will provide ample opportunity for the strongest to get to the front but is not so steep as to deter any newer or vertically challenged riders. The gradual uphill that creates the perfect start to the race turns into an exciting, big ring stomp to the finish which is sure to leave racers with a big smile on their faces.  This year the race will be run in a counter-clockwise direction, as opposed to last year's clock-wise direction.  This will provide several more punchy uphills on the singletrack and ski trail to allow the strongest to make their attacks and also allow riders to descend the west side of Amity Creek, which is an absolute blast.

The race will start and end in Lester Park, which is one of the most beautiful parks in the City of Duluth. Two waterways, Lester River and Amity Creek, join and empty into Lake Superior just two blocks from the race. There are several hiking trails along the river and numerous locations for families to play in the rivers or on the playground in the park. This is certainly one of the most family friendly locations for a bike race you’ll find anywhere.
 

On line registration ends on Thursday August 16th at 8:00 PM.

Notes:
1)* USAC Sanctioned - All Series events are USAC Mountain sanctioned. All Expert (Cat 1) riders need an annual USAC MTB License and all Pro Riders need an International License. To purchase a license visit www.usacycling.org
2) **Must Register

 

The Minnesota Series Kids Fun Race is designed to give children an opportunity to compete like their parents in a positive and fun environment. The Race is free to children ages 3 to 12.  Parent cyclists ride and race with the kids, providing motivational and physical support.

Race starts at 12:45 PM! Helmets are required. Register on-site only by 12:30pm.
 

The course will be marked and available to pre-ride on Saturday before the race.

Normally biking is prohibited from the cross country ski trails, the City of Duluth has granted us use of these trails only for 8/18 and 8/19.

Prizes will be provided for 1st - 3rd place in each age class for Kids Comp, Citizen, Sport, Comp, Expert, & Pro classes. Top finishing Elite Group (Experts and Pros combined) will receive cash awards. See the MNSCS Guidelines for payout details.     

AWESOME RAFFLE PRIZES provided by local sponors and series sponsors alike!

Concessions will be sold by COGGS volunteers on the day of the race.

Bring your swimming suit because Lester Park is surrounded by two rivers with great swimming holes and places for the kids to play in the water.

Portable toilets will be available onsite.