Kris Schamp.
(Photos © J. Maus)
The Portland Mountain Bike Short Track Race Series, which wrapped up its six-race series at Portland International Raceway (PIR) last night, has tallied a record number of participants.
Event founder and organizer Kris Schamp reports that for the first time ever, there were over 400 entries into last night’s event and that he tallied a 65% increase in the amount of unique racers (some folks race more than once per event) from last year.
This is the fourth year Schamp has put on the race and he says each year it has gotten bigger. This year he saw a huge jump in new riders, kids and junior racers, and women. Last night the crowds were so big he actually ran out of waivers and number plates.
getting too serious.
Schamp says getting women out on the course (women typically race in much smaller numbers than men) is due to some of the same factors that have made Portland’s cyclocross racing scene a massive hit:
“It looks like we finally enjoy the same effect as in cyclocross, where novice women racers discover how accessible and fun the race format really is (not the suffer-fest they always thought it would be) and then start spreading the word among their friends and get all religious about coming back each week to race and have a good time.”
showed up for the freak bike
race last night.
Also in the event’s favor, says Schamp, is that the participants are increasingly not the typical, “lycra-clad racer crowd”:
“We really saw all sorts of riders, from 7-year old kids battling it out in the junior category to a 65-year old.”
Schamp also made the event interesting by inviting the Zoobombers and freak-bike crowd to go up against the fun, twisting, off-road course on their tall-bikes, mini-bikes, unicycles, and other crazy contraptions.
Many people who participate in Short Track do it because the courses (which change each week) are just plain fun (not to mention the course is just a few miles north of downtown Portland). Using PIR’s existing motocross track and an adjacent wooded area for singletrack, Schamp and his dedicated crew of volunteers make sure the course has plenty of whoops, jumps, tight turns, challenging obstacles, and fast sections.
The course is so fun that Schamp says he gets many emails from people asking if they can ride the course on other days of the week. Schamps thinks that shows there is, “a strong and growing demand for off-road riding opportunities close to Portland.”
As for riding on the course; “Unfortunately,” Schamp says, “that is not an option yet.”
You can see videos and photos from the Short Track series at PortlandRacing.com or browse my photo gallery for scenes and faces from last night’s race.