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Leogang season by the numbers.
The region of Saalfelden Leogang is again one of the mountain bike top spots of the international stage. At the end of the year the resort looks back to a very intense but also successful season.
2014 is already planned to become an even more action-packed year. There will be plenty of reasons to visit Saalfelden Leogang in 2014.
Another season in Saalfelden Leogang draws to an end after a year full of events and action. Well, already during wintertime it started with the only FMB World Tour event on snow, the White Style. This tremendous show spectacle on uncommon surface is always a welcome abbreviation of the winter season for the riders, one of the reasons for the prominent athlete line-up in 2013. After the summer season was opened in the Salzburger Land, the next big event ran down with the Out of Bounds Festival. It included the legendary 26TRIX, an FMB World Tour Gold event as well as the iXS European Downhill Cup. But the highlight was saved for the season's closing: Saalfelden Leogang had the honor to host the final stage of the UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup and the UCI Four-Cross World Championships. The podium shots from downhill queen Rachel Atherton and Canadian dominator Steve Smith went around the globe. And also the Four-Cross competitions couldn't have been more spectacular: the apparently already defeated Joost Wichman conquered his title in a really jaw-dropping way. The women's title went to Australian Caroline Buchanan.
As you can imagine the hosting of such mega events requires a lot of preparation and is even a challenge for the well-experienced organizing team of Saalfelden Leogang. To give you a small impression of the event dimensions, here the World Cup/Worlds weekend in numbers:
During the UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup final and the UCI Four-Cross World Championships there were...
... 400 riders from 32 nations
... 130 journalists from 20 nations
... 15,000 spectators in the Bikepark Leogang
... more than 1,200 guests at the Ö3-After-Party
Therefore it needed...
... an overall budget of €300,000
... more than 250 assistants
... 3 kilometers of banners
... 9 kilometers of barrier tape
... more than 5,000 binders
Taking in account the yearly balance of the Bikepark Leogang it becomes clear that this site is not only developed for pro riders: with over 170,000 bike rides in 2013, there were more bike park visitors than ever before. This equals a raise of remarkable 23 percent.
A clear signal was sent out to the bike offspring: Saalfelden Leogang is the perfect spot for kids' bike socialization. The infrastructure for the youngest riders was again restocked with the investment in the Kids Mini Bikepark Leogang, the currently biggest kids park in Europe. Moreover, the partnering community Saalfelden just opened a new pump track in September. It is designed for old and young in order to have the opportunity to get to know the sport in a safe way. In cooperation with the new bike partner of the holiday region, SCOTT, for the first time the well renowned "SCOTT Junior Trophy" for kids from 3 years on, was held during the Out of Bounds Festival. Of course it was more a fun event rather than a serious competition.
For now, the winter active bikers might come to Saalfelden Leogang for a skiing trip, all other can already look forward to an event-packed 2014. Here are the already fixed dates for next year:
January 31st: White Style - The spectacular trick show on snow with the world's best slopestyle athletes is the first strike of the new year.
June 12th-15th: Out of Bounds Festival - The classic among Saalfelden Leogang's events, in 2014 featuring the 26TRIX dirt jump competition as well as the UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup.
July 08th-10th: Peak Break - In 2014 Saalfelden Leogang will be among the 8 stages of the 900 kilometer long and 19,000 meters of altitude comprising alps cross race.
September 19th-21st: iXS European Downhill Cup - Europe's best downhill rider will battle for the crucial tenths of a second on the famous World Cup track in Bikepark Leogang.
September 19th-21st: SCOTT Junior Trophy - The second edition of the race especially for kids from 3 years on promises a lot of fun and tons of prizes from Saalfelden Leogang's partners SCOTT, CamelBak and GoPro