September 22/00 9:56 am - Napa, Svein Tuft, FACT

Posted by Editor on 09/22/00
 

Napa World Cup 2001

REDWOOD CITY, 20 September, 2000 - Following completion of the successful TISSOT-UCI Mountain Bike World Cup event at Domaine Chandon earlier this year in April, GaleForce Sports Marketing is pleased to announce that this world class venue in the beautiful Napa Valley will again be the start point for World Cup from April 6-8, 2001.

GaleForce President, Rick Sutton stated, "Over the past four years, having races in the Napa Valley has added prestige to the mountain bike world cup series. And when we moved to Domaine Chandon this year we took another step up, adding a first-rate venue to a great location. Following on from this year's positive experience, I am delighted that the people at Chandon liked the sport and our event well enough to invite us back for 2001. They are a superb organization to work with and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship - if you will pardon the expression!"

GaleForce Operations Director, Mitch Wippern said: "For our first time in the new venue, we were very happy with the way the course and the expo ran this year. As part of our ongoing efforts to make better and better events, we listened to feedback from all of our clients and have acted on it. The potential at Domaine Chandon is just incredible."

Refinements in the expo area will mean increased space and accommodation of more visitors, while retaining an intimate atmosphere. Importantly, integration of the Domaine Chandon Visitors' Center and its gardens into the event will again be the key to making this the most exotic venue on the world cup circuit.

Following requests from athletes, when time comes to build the course for the race, more passing opportunities at key points on the climbs will be added, and grunt work will be done to remove some of the rougher rocky sections.

Feedback from photographers will result in a redesigned finishing straight to create an even better crowd shot for '01. The overall routing of the course need not change; the course as it is contains much unexploited potential for photographers. Spectator access to the race action will also be improved. The popular hayrides will again be on offer and a more open flow of foot traffic to and from the winery is planned. The Disco Flyover, a Napa World Cup tradition goes psychedelic in '01 with Hendrix, the Who, lava lamps, sparkling wine and beer and on tap.


Eugene Celebration

September 20, 2000--Hutch's Bicycles Eugene Celebration Omnium wrapped up the 2000 Northwest road racing season September 16th and 17th. Sven Tuft (Trek-Volkswagen) easily took the overall title by winning all three stages! Kirk Willet (Mercury) was a close second, and Mick Walsh (Mongoose) was third.

Mercury was no match for the mighty Svein.

Geoff Rice
TrekVolkswagen Road Racing Team Canada


News from Quesnel, British Columbia.

Fact Canada has moved into a new facility which includes a new Gold's Gym. Fact will make use of this fantastic facility for training camps for endurance athletes. The Gym is one of the finest and largest in Canada and includes a 4 lane 25 meter swimming pool. Fact has equipment for making blood measurements including glucose, lactate and ammonia. Ammonia is an indicator for monitoring training levels similar to lactate. We have one of only two portable ammonia checkers in Canada. (The other one is at the University of Calgary who we supplied.) We also have equipment (EMG machines) for measuring muscle activity, with this we can check for example if an athlete's muscle function is symmetrical in both legs. The driving force behind our center is Juerg Feldmann who is a certified physiotherapist as well as a university trained sport instructor with an extensive endurance sport coaching background from Switzerland. We are presently coaching athletes in various sports including: Track and Field, Cross country skiing and Biathlon as well as a successful group of Mountain Bikers (Geoff Kabush, member of the Canadian Olympic team, Ryder Hesjedal, Kris Sneddon, Canadian Junior Champion, Martina Feldmann, Marc Sonntag). Our goal is to help dedicated young athletes in Northern BC. Camps are scheduled for October, November and January. These camps are booked but if there is interest we can set up others. Interested persons should contact Herb Chlebek by email at hchlebek@fact-canada.com

Fact Canada is holding a training camp for mountain biking in Bend Oregon on the Thanksgiving weekend on Oct. 7-8. There is still room in this camp and anyone interested should contact Jeff Burnard by email at jrburnard@aol.com