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Red Bull Exodus takes it from the top

New event adds endurance to technical DH biking
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Red Bull is known for being at the forefront of extreme and alternative sports, sponsoring everything from jet racing to cliff diving competitions to ice-skate cross races through the frozen streets of Quebec City. They're also known for taking existing sports and twisting them to better showcase the skills of the athletes.

Red Bull Elevation, which took place in Whistler on Canada Day for three successive years, is a prime example of a Red Bull event. The organizers took the sport of BMX dirt jumping and placed it on a slope so riders could focus more on landing bigger and better tricks than keeping their momentum. Tens of thousands of fans tuned in to watch the world's top riders raise the bar.

Red Bull is also known for running events for a few years before moving onto the next thing, keeping things fresh.

Enter Red Bull Exodus, taking place this weekend on Whistler Mountain. If Elevation pushed big air and style in BMX, then Exodus is all about pushing the stamina and aggressiveness of downhill mountain bike racers.

The main event is essentially a mass start downhill from top to bottom on Whistler Mountain, easily creating one of the world's longest downhill races in the process with a vertical drop of close to 1,600 metres. That's about four times as much vertical as a run from the top of the Fitzsimmons Express.

The concept for the race came from Cody Swansborough, a former competitive DH racer who is now a field marketing manager with Red Bull Canada.

"There's a race concept out of Europe called the Mega Avalanche, which is a bit larger scale event in the Alps and Pyrenees and South Africa," he explained. "The general concept is you have a large number of people descending at the same time, but it's almost more of an enduro race that goes up and down. I wanted to do something in Whistler from the peak to the base of the hill that was just downhill. I can say that there is nothing else out there in the world that's like this."

Swansborough has a pretty good idea of what athletes will go through, and some idea how things are going to play out from the top.

"It's going to be bar to bar from the start, with 15 rows and 10 guys in each row," he said. "They're going to hit speeds around 80 kilometres an hour on the fire road, which is kind of similar to the old Kamikaze era on Blackcomb. From there it drops into more technical singletrack and should slow down a bit.

"We'll see who has the cajones to drop the hammer up top... The race to get to the technical trail section first should be pretty exciting, but for all the guys that are fast on the top section, there is probably an even number of guys that are going to get faster once the race hits the singletrack. We could see the lead change hands several times."

The race starts by the top of the Peak Chair, then winds around the back of Whistler on Matthew's Traverse to Pika's Traverse before dropping into the new trail by the Roundhouse Lodge. From there riders head down Upper Whiskey Jack towards the Garbanzo Express. The selection of trails from that point includes Original Sin, Blue Velvet, In Deep, Freight Train, Duffman, Side Trace, Golden Triangle, World Cup Singletrack, Ho Chi Minh and Double Vision.

You have to qualify to make it into Exodus. On Friday, up to 400 men and women will take part in a time trial from Original Sin down.

If your time is good enough you could be one of 150 men to race Exodus, with a mass start out of the gate.

There is a separate category for female riders and a separate start for 50 riders on the Exodus course if there is enough interest to go ahead.

You must be 19 or older to take part. Registration is $60 if you have a bike park pass or $80 if you don't. The entry fee includes a race plate and two-day pass to the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Full body armour and full-face helmets are required.

The course is open for training from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, Thursday, Sept. 3, and race package pickup is at the Westin Resort from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Training is from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Friday, and the qualifier is from noon to 6 p.m.

The women race at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and the men start at 2 p.m. The awards will be in the village at 4 p.m.

There is no cash prize for the event but the top male and female racers will each win all-expense paid trips to Red Bull Crashed Ice in Quebec City - the ice-skate cross event on frozen city streets - with VIP access.

The list of confirmed Exodus athletes is still being assembled but Swansborough says about 35 pro athletes have already registered. A conflict with the world championships prevented some athletes from competing, but the press release for the event included Brandon Semenuk, Robbie Bourdon, Darren Berrecloth, Shaums March, Wade Simmons, Tyler Morland, Thomas Vanderham and Dave Watson. Winning times are expected to be in the half hour range.

For more information and registration visit www.redbull.ca/exodus.