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WORCA gears up for 2006

Focus for season is on youth, trails and trail builders
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WORCA's Loonie season with 21 races starts up May 4. Photo by Andrew Mitchell

There’s still snow on the majority of mountain bike trails in Whistler Valley, but the board of the Whistler Off Road Cycling Association (WORCA) is already hard at work preparing for the 2006 season.

It’s shaping up to be a busy year. The annual WORCA Bike Swap is on April 22 at the base of Creekside. On May 27 WORCA is helping to host the B.C. High School Mountain Bike Championship, marking a course and providing volunteer marshals, first aid and other support.

WORCA is also the host club for the annual International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) Summit and World Mountain Bike Conference June 20-23.

In addition WORCA is expanding its youth programs this summer to offer three one-week youth camps, coached by certified instructors.

All of this is on top of the regular Loonie Race season, which gets underway on Thursday, May 4, a bi-monthly series of mountain bike clinics, and a greatly expanded trail maintenance program.

To help manage this load, WORCA applied for and received a $34,000 community enrichment grant from the Resort Municipality of Whistler – $10,000 more than the club received the previous year. It’s also the most received by any community organization, although with over 1,000 members for five of the last six years WORCA is by far the largest non-profit group in the Sea to Sky corridor – as well as one of the largest mountain bike clubs in the entire world.

According to WORCA president Grant Lamont, the Community Enrichment Grant reflects the additional programs added this year, as well as the need to build future capacity.

"Put simply, the money is for trails, youth, and training a whole bunch of new trail builders," he said.

On the trails side, WORCA has increased its trail maintenance budget by about 20 per cent over last year’s budget of approximately $21,000. Trail builder Chris Markle, who built Kill Me Thrill Me and Comfortably Numb, was once again awarded the main trail contract for the year, and he has already started sweeping Whistler’s north trails to cut and remove deadfall from the winter. Some of the money will also go to other trail builders.

"We’ve decided it’s best to hire a few apprentice trail builders this year," explained Lamont. "There are about four or five great trail guys in town, but they’re not going to be around forever. Some of them are getting older, some are going through a change in lifestyle and won’t be able to spend as much time out there as they used to. These guys are a great resource that others could learn from."

In addition to getting older trail builders to share their knowledge with a younger crew, WORCA will also help to subsidize enrolment in an IMBA trail building program to ensure trails are up to internationally recognized standards in design and construction. In exchange, trail builders who take the course will be asked to volunteer hours to maintaining trails in Whistler.

"To sustain this amazing resource of trails, we really have to look beyond our current needs to what our future needs might be. That’s where a lot of our money is going this year," said Lamont.

The grant will also help to cover trail funding lost to increased insurance costs. Since 9/11 Cycling B.C. insurance for WORCA members has surged, doubling for two years in a row and pushing the price of an individual annual membership from $25 to $40.

The last two seasons the insurance has continued to increase slightly, while WORCA has kept the membership price the same. With about $6.50 in insurance increases, including $2 for this season, that works out to about $6,500 less that WORCA can raise for programs through membership fees.

However, the organization felt it was important to keep the membership price low to encourage more people to join, including casual members who don’t race but want to make a contribution to local trails. Membership numbers also make WORCA a powerful lobbying group, ensuring that trails remain open and that sections of trail lost to development are replaced. WORCA directors already participate in several planning groups, and are frequently consulted whenever decisions are made that could impact trails.

A portion of the municipal grant will also go to subsidize three one-week youth camps this summer, which will be available starting at $99.

"Now we have the funding to increase the number of kids that can participate," said Lamont. "Originally we thought we had to cap it at 10 to 15 kids but now we can accommodate 25 to 30 kids for each week, with about six kids per coach."

As the host club for the IMBA Summit and World Mountain Bike Conference, WORCA will also incur a few extra costs hosting clinics, guided rides and a Loonie Race that will be open to over 500 conference participants.

Upcoming WORCA events:

WORCA Bike Swap

The WORCA Bike Swap will take place on Saturday, April 22 at Creekside, which will also be the site of Whistler’s 2006 Earth Day festival.

The cost is $2 per item to sell any type of bike or bike equipment, as well as 15 per cent of any purchases under $1,000 and 10 per cent of any purchases over $1,000. All proceeds will go to Whistler’s youth programs, including camps, a few evening clinics for younger riders, a grant to the high school mountain bike team and a new scholarship.

For people wishing to sell the drop-off is between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. The swap is open until 4 p.m. All participants must pick up unsold items by 4 p.m.

This year, purchasers will be able to pay by cheque and credit card, although people paying by credit card will be asked to pay a small surcharge to cover the processing cost. The Franz’s Trail Scotia Bank will also be open on Saturday.

Loonie Race season

The 2006 WORCA Loonie Race season launches on Thursday, May 4 and runs until Sept. 21, for a total of 21 races. WORCA is sponsoring the first event, which will be a pot luck – bring enough food for two people.

Sign-on starts at 5:30 p.m. and the race gets underway at 6:30 p.m. People who need to purchase memberships should get to the sign-on early for the first few weeks because there is typically a line.

This year memberships will also be available online, as of April 24, for an extra $2 processing fee. Just bring your identification to the start line to pick up your 2006 membership card.

B.C. High School Mountain Bike Championships

For the first time the B.C. High School Mountain Bike Championships are taking place in Whistler May 27, bringing approximately 400 riders to the community.

Whistler Secondary is currently in the process of putting together a team to compete, and has already signed up 11 members. The group will practice with Team Whistler on Monday and Wednesday in the weeks leading up to the races.

The start/finish area will be Spruce Grove, with races taking place on the Lost Lake Park trail network.

WORCA will be setting the course, and will be looking for volunteers to assist as course marshals, first aid providers, and so on. Check the WORCA website at www.worca.com after May 1 to find out how to volunteer.