Great article, well written and it covers a wide range of interesting (to me) events. However I am going to be that guy, the one who actually mentions the elephant in the room, about the use of trails (non bike park/ Whistler Blackcomb) for the EWS in Whistler.
The article above indicates that Chris Ball liaises with Crankworx as far as local trail use is concerned and I am sure that he does. Unfortunately the situation appears to be most years is that Crankworx seem to be somewhat disconnected from the real cost of repairing and maintaining trail that has been completely mangled by 300 riders running multiple laps over the same trails in a short period of time (officially three days, but the no riding until official practice is completely ignored every year so it is actually more like a week).
I am not a trail builder so I donate to make up for my lack of building. I have asked and been informed that it costs about C$1 per metre to maintain well built trail to the same standard it was built at.
Crankworx makes a big song and dance about donating $5000 to the local trails every year and then they go and rip up between 15 and 30 kilometres of non bike park trail for the enduro events (EWS and Challenger).
The type of damage is evident in the upper part of Lower Howler which has never really recovered from the EWS and, according to one WORCA trail builder I spoke to this year, is proving to be a challenge to maintain let alone make better. There is talk of having to build a re-route as several corners are severely eroded by use and weather. This year Hindsight went from being a great new alternative to Tunnel Vision to a smashed up mess in the space of a week. One year we lost five years worth of loam off Highside & Hi-Hi in the space of the week.
There appears to be a large use/ wear and tear to trail recovery donation gap that does not ever seem to be addressed by Crankworx or the EWS and is not really an expense that WORCA or the locals should have to wear. This is not something that is the fault of the racers as they assume that the organisation makes proper arrangements with the local trail community to maintain, repair and improve the trails.
Whilst it is pretty cool that the EWS is part of Crankworx and having the EWS and Crankworx visit Whistler does pump money into the local economy it would be a lot better if they offered up a figure that matched the damage that they do to the trails. And that their trail repair follow up was over a period of a few weeks or a couple of months rather than coming up to nearly three years (without any significant repair).
As a comparative example, the BC Enduro Series (CNES) and Trans-BC donate more to the local trail building organisation for each event (10% of entry fees which is patched by MEC their major sponsor) than Crankworx/ EWS does which doesn't really seem that balanced or fair for Whistler.
All comments and hating welcome as it is an issue that is overdue for discussion.
Oct. 30, 2018, 4:08 p.m. - AndrewR
Great article, well written and it covers a wide range of interesting (to me) events. However I am going to be that guy, the one who actually mentions the elephant in the room, about the use of trails (non bike park/ Whistler Blackcomb) for the EWS in Whistler. The article above indicates that Chris Ball liaises with Crankworx as far as local trail use is concerned and I am sure that he does. Unfortunately the situation appears to be most years is that Crankworx seem to be somewhat disconnected from the real cost of repairing and maintaining trail that has been completely mangled by 300 riders running multiple laps over the same trails in a short period of time (officially three days, but the no riding until official practice is completely ignored every year so it is actually more like a week). I am not a trail builder so I donate to make up for my lack of building. I have asked and been informed that it costs about C$1 per metre to maintain well built trail to the same standard it was built at. Crankworx makes a big song and dance about donating $5000 to the local trails every year and then they go and rip up between 15 and 30 kilometres of non bike park trail for the enduro events (EWS and Challenger). The type of damage is evident in the upper part of Lower Howler which has never really recovered from the EWS and, according to one WORCA trail builder I spoke to this year, is proving to be a challenge to maintain let alone make better. There is talk of having to build a re-route as several corners are severely eroded by use and weather. This year Hindsight went from being a great new alternative to Tunnel Vision to a smashed up mess in the space of a week. One year we lost five years worth of loam off Highside & Hi-Hi in the space of the week. There appears to be a large use/ wear and tear to trail recovery donation gap that does not ever seem to be addressed by Crankworx or the EWS and is not really an expense that WORCA or the locals should have to wear. This is not something that is the fault of the racers as they assume that the organisation makes proper arrangements with the local trail community to maintain, repair and improve the trails. Whilst it is pretty cool that the EWS is part of Crankworx and having the EWS and Crankworx visit Whistler does pump money into the local economy it would be a lot better if they offered up a figure that matched the damage that they do to the trails. And that their trail repair follow up was over a period of a few weeks or a couple of months rather than coming up to nearly three years (without any significant repair). As a comparative example, the BC Enduro Series (CNES) and Trans-BC donate more to the local trail building organisation for each event (10% of entry fees which is patched by MEC their major sponsor) than Crankworx/ EWS does which doesn't really seem that balanced or fair for Whistler. All comments and hating welcome as it is an issue that is overdue for discussion.