Fabien Barel Invitational
Race Down Mt. Kenya
Date: 2009-01-13
There have been rumblings about URGE Kenya for several months now but the information has been coming at me in bits and pieces. I decided I should probably parse it myself to give you a clear idea of what a cool event this is going to be. What follows is my W5 version of URGE Kenya.
Who? The whole thing is being put together by the good people at Tribe Sport. I can say they are good people because I was lucky enough to do a Chilcotin float plane drop with four of them this summer. On top of being the French distributor for Rocky Mountain and Race Face, Tribe Sport has started their own line; URGE. It appears that so far they are making unique helmets and sponsoring the Subaru Mondraker Team - led by Fabien Barel. The lads from Tribe Sport are adventurers of the highest orderand it looks to me like this is a great excuse for them to brew up a cool mountain biking expedition.
In total there are almost 40 people involved in putting this on; a television crew, photographers, riders, porters, first aid personnel and organizers. Only 10 riders will be competing - having been hand picked by the good folks from Tribe Sport. Simmons, The Claw and Mark Weir are the token North Americans and the rest of the crew are veterans of DH and Megavalanche racing. At this point my money would be on Vouilloz and Barel but so little is known about the actual riding that it's going to be tough to pick a favourite.
-FABIEN BAREL - France
-RENE WILDHABER - Switzerland
-NICOLAS VOUILLOZ - France
-REMY ABSALON - France
-WADE SIMMONS - Canada
-DARREN BERRECLOTH - Canada
-MARK WEIR - USA
-ALEX BALAUD - France
-SAM PERIDY - France
-YVARAL VILLIER - France
What? That's the real question isn't it? URGE Kenya is certainly a unique event. The first part of the event is more of an expedition than anything. Over three days the riders will carry their bikes to 4700 metres (15419') on Mount Kenya. They will leave their bikes at that elevation and carry on to the summit at 4950 metres (16240'). After checking out the view they'll descend to their bikes and then ride down to 2000 metres (6561'). That's right - a descent of 2700 metres or 8858 feet. That should warm up a few rotors. Before you start feeling too bad for the riders you should know that porters will be carrying all of their gear aside from their bikes. Each rider will have the opportunity to study the track on the way up to look for spots to make up some time. Each will also be accompanied by a guide to help them find the fastest route down. Like a DH race, URGE Kenya will be a time trial so each rider will have an individual start. Start order will be determined by a game to see who has mastered the most Swahili words with the help of their guides and porters. Fabien Barel and the organizers from Tribe Sport were on site for five days in November to work out some logistics and to inspect the course. This is what Fabien had to say about the descent from 4000 metres (rain prevented them from summitting); "Since I was not going full throttle, I believe that from the start to finish (including the part I did not do today) it will take the faster racers approximately 2 hours to complete the course" stated Fabien. "In any case, this is great. It is hard, it is technical and it will be a fantastic event! I suffered physically and I think many surprises are up to come in February."
Where? You may have guessed where Mount Kenya is already. More specifically it's about 150 km to the north east of Nairobi in the Kenyan Highlands - and the equator almost bisects the mountain perfectly in half. The mountain consists of three peaks;Batian (5,199 m - 17,058 ft), Nelion (5,188 m - 17,022 ft) and Lenana (4,985 m - 16,355 ft)and the URGE event will come down from Lenana.
When? February. I love easy questions.
Why? Because it's there of course. On top of the adventure and exposure it's clear that Tribe Sport and Fabien want to make a difference in the area. Working with their NGO partner ACORD they hope to raise 10,000 Euro for the local people. Here's what Fred Glo - El Capitan at Tribe Sport - had to say about his experience with the locals:
"We met with the guides and the OGN on site. The motivation of the crew was increased by meeting the families of our porters and guides. It was an amazing moment when we met the children of the main guide and he explained to us that they were receiving a good education and how much the financial support we are bringing to them is helping to send the kids to school. These types of stories increase my motivation, along with Urge Helmet crew, and give us an even stronger belief in what we are doing and why this event is so important."
So far I haven't been invited along as a foreign observer (Canadian Peacekeeper) but my fingers are crossed. I'm sure we'll also get good info about the event from Wade Simmons once he's returned to the North Shore. As soon as we get some more information about the event or some results we'll be sure to serve them up.
Does anyone have any predictions? Maybe someone would like to make a friendly wager? How will Berrecloth do against a bunch of racers? Who's your money on?
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