Last year the organizers of the Squamish Mountain Bike Festival and Test of Metal thought they were doing well when the event sold out with over a month to go before the main event.
This year’s 2004 Test of Metal, a 67-kilometre mountain bike epic around Squamish trails, sold out 800 spots more than three months in advance.
The June 19 race had just 30 spots left on Monday, and was completely sold out by Wednesday. Some UCI racers may still be able to get in now that the event is now officially sanctioned by the International Cycling Union, but the general public is out of luck.
"The grovelling is about to begin," joked festival organizer Cliff Miller.
On the first day of registration Jan. 1, more than 30 people registered this year.
"More and more people want in every year, and the people that have done it before want to come back," said Miller.
The pressure is off now that the event is sold out, says Miller, leaving him more time to organize. "Now we know we’ve got 800 people coming, we can focus on everything else," he said.
The Squamish Mountain Bike Festival runs from June 18 to 20, and includes a chariot race around downtown Squamish, a teen Test of Metal, a Mini Metal, a sanctioned Test of Metal Trials Competition and the Rockstar Invitational Freeride Dash for Cash for technical downhill riders. Only the main Test of Metal event is sold out.
For more information visit www.testofmetal.com.
