Himalayan Mountain Bike Championship
Race Series 2000Story & Race Results
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Nationalities represented 19: Nepal, Japan, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Israel, Mexico, USA, New Zealand, Slovenia, Mexico, Tibet, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Israel, Italy,
Race dates:Although mountain bike races are nothing new to Nepal, given there has been one a year for the past eight or more years, the start of this new millennium saw a new beginning in the sport within the tiny landlocked kingdom of Nepal which is developing a large reputation as a mountain biking destination. That beginning was the hosting of the first time 3-race series over consecutive months that has changed the nature of the sport's future in the Himalayas.
For the Countries biking talent the opportunity to race in back to back events proved a test of fitness & challenged their skills amongst a World Class field and variable weather conditions. Previously, with just one race a year to look forward to, based often on erratic scheduling, it's not exactly an athletes ideal situation to advance in your chosen sport or even contemplate the finer aspects of what training, diet and race tactics is about nor engender much personal development, however raw talent is an unquantifiable balancer in any sport.
Himalayan Mountain Bikes of Kathmandu, having been the pioneers of mountain bike tours & the sport in the Himalayan region since 1988, put together the event with the aim of injecting a timely boost to the sport by offering five race categories (open, women, seniors [over 40's], juniors and an inter-schools competition) over the 3-race series. The combination proved a success with more mountain bikers competing in each event than had ever graced the history of racing in the Kingdom whilst attracting internationals from 18 countries and promoted on overseas networks across Asia. Series prizes with a return airfare to Europe courtesy of Qatar Air, to compete overseas, was a fair incentive to riders together with prize money, trophies & awards to 15 division winners.
World Cup Champion and three times National UK Champion Barrie Clarke added a new appreciation & standard to the racing when he claimed the last win of the series by a small margin whilst still managing to make two puncture repairs along the way that displayed what man & machine can achieve at World Class level. He was pushed to the line and passed on two occasions by Sydney Olympian and Women's European Champ. Caroline Alexandar, also of the UK, who understandably entered the open category rather than the women's and mixed it with the local lads who chased her wheel and a distant trail of dust.
Earlier races saw outstanding performances by many Nepalese riders namely Ramesh Tamang, Ranjan Rajbhandari, Suresh Dulal & China Lama with consistency winning the overall series as Tamang took top ten placings in the 3 events & claimed the flight to race in Europe, whilst Rajbhandari & Dulal both missed a race whilst on tour as professional mountain bike guides. Each had taken a second place in earlier events. Series results were all determined at the ribbon on the last race.
Inspiring riding by Saraswoti Bhujel, with two wins, saw a Nepalese rider almost win the series over her European female competitors, but a crash in the final event dashed her chances of top place. In the Junior division it came to a count back on aggregate times seeing Rajendra Khadka win the series by 7-seconds over Sanjeev Thapa in fine competitive style. The big winners in the HMB-C race series were the 15 school teams with the rising stars of the sport laying solid tracks to claim their places on the winner's stage in coming years.
The Nepal Tourism Board acknowledging the success of the series has pledging future support and promotion of the Himalayan Mountain Bike Race Series in 2001, saying
" It will be events like this one with our backing that seems sure to launch races & the sport into the international arena and further boost Nepal's reputation as a world class mountain biking destination."The taste & effect of biking fever resulting from the HMB-C surely seems to be spreading amongst the biking fraternity as talk of getting in shape for 2001 filters along the trails.
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