MTB Short Track Racing at Skibowl - Sun June 18 & Sat July 1.
Check out the photos of the first short track race at Skibowl !

Portland Racing is teaming up with SkiBowl to stage two short track races on the mountain.The first race will be held on Sunday June 18, the second will take place on Saturday July 1.

The Pro/Elite, Expert, SingleSpeed and Sport riders will do a start loop and then go for 25 minutes + 1 lap on a short 3-4 min loop (little under 1 mile and about 120 vertical feet per lap). Beginners will do a slightly longer loop (same loop + start loop) for 45 minutes + 1 lap. For the Beginners this will actually be sort of a cross-country race on a short track course.The advantages of this format are: 1) there aren't any long sustained climbs, 2) riders are always relatively close to the start/finish area (in case of mechanicals), and 3) you get to do the same loop over and over, which allows you to familiarize yourself with the course and become more confident throughout the race.

Start Times and Race Duration (updated start times for Sat July 1st!):
11:00am - Pro/Elite and Expert - racing for 25'
11:30am - Sport and Singlespeed riders - racing for 25'
Noon - Beginners and Juniors - racing for 45'

Race Fees:
Short Track only: $15
Short Track + XC: $25 ($15 for XC race + $10 for Short Track).
No late fee for short track!
$5 late fee for XC, when registering after Thursday.

NEW - Omnium Time Bonus
To encourage folks to compete in both the short track and XC events - and to go hard in both races - we have decided to award omnium bonus seconds to Pro/Elite, Expert, Singlespeed and Sport riders who place in the top-10 in their short track races. The bonus seconds will be "paid out" by giving short track top-10 finishers a head-start in their XC races. For instance, if there are 10 or more racers in a given short track category (e.g. Expert Men), the 10th place finisher will get a 5" head start, the 9th place finisher a 10" head-start, etc... The first place short track finisher will effectively enjoy a 50" headstart over racers who didn't race the short track or didn't finish in the top 10. If there are less than 10 racers in a short track category, the bonus seconds will bve awarded the same way in 5" increments, but the first place finisher in that category will obviously get less than 50" headstart (e.g. if there are only 3 racers in a given category, the 1st place finisher will only enjoy a 15" headstart).

We will award bonus seconds for the following six categories: Pro/Elite Men, Expert Men, Pro/Elite/Expert Women, Sport Men, Sport Women, Singlespeed. Sorry, no age groups in the Skibowl short track races.

More info

 Download the race flyer for more details.
 Download the race entry form to pre-register.

Course
Below are some shots of the course. The course should be a real blast. It features a straight-stretch downhill start on a fire road, a few short grinding climbs, lots of sweet singletrack through open meadows and dense wood, a "blast-through" creek crossing, and even a small patch of snow (at least until last weekend).

The Skibowl races will definitely make some great training for the short track series. And the fun thing is that you can combine them with XC MTB racing on the same day.

1. This is the start area under the trees. It's a hard-packed fire road that goes downhill, so expect to fly from the get-go.

2. Out of the trees, you will cruise through the quasi-industrial wasteland that is a ski resort in summer.

3. Then a hard turn right and a short grind on a dirt track towards Multopor Lodge.

4. After circling around the back of the lodge, you will hit the first singletrack section and traverse a meadow. The trail will spit you out on the double track you see in the distance.

5. The double track in close-up, another short and sweet uphill grinder.

6. Around the bend, it is downhill again on a curvy singletrack section that leads you to the woods.

7. Into the woods and towards the creek crossing, which is perfectly rideable. The creek is only an inch deep.

8. Here the singletrack gets a little more dense...

9. You even get to choose between some fun dual-lane singletrack options.

10. All around the course , there is plenty of room to pass people.

11. Still a small patch of snow, which will likely be gone by next weekend .

12. Plenty of obstacles to look out for on the downhill sections...

13. But it's all rideable, and nothing too technical, even for Beginners. Proof: I pre-rode the course pulling a trailer and my 1.5-year old survived in one piece.

14. Out of the woods, it's a flat, open singletrack section back in the direction of Multopor Lodge.

15. The singletrack turns into a doubletrack and takes you uphill again.

16. At the ski lift, the Pro/Elite/Expert/Sport loop turns right (uphill) for another good fire road climb, which will get you back onto the doubletrack shown in picture #5. The beginners will drop down left (not pictured) and do the full start-loop again with each lap.

Panoramic shot of start loop and Start and Finish locations for each category. (click on picture for larger view). Note: the common section of both loops, featuring the singletrack in the woods is not visible on this picture.