A first-of-its-kind race for western Canada will take place in the Crowsnest Pass in August.

The Crowsnest 100 is a 100km mountain bike race that will see riders’ make their way across gravel roads, double track and single-track terrain.

The most difficult aspect of this race will be endurance.

The course will take riders’ up about 10,000 feet over the duration of the race.

Peter Hockenhull, one of the organizers of the race, says this height will make it tough on the participants.

“Of you’re a cyclist you know that it’s a lot of climbing so it’s definitely going to be a pretty punishing day on the bike.”

Despite the difficult length and elevation in the race, Hockenhull says this race is still open to anyone who wants to enter.

“It's not set up to be a pro race but hopefully if it grows it can be a prestigious thing to come out and try and win if you're a pro or semi-pro rider. We'd love to attract those kinds of people but this is more for certainly the idea is catering more toward the dedicated weekend endurance athlete.”

While the race is technically open to anyone, Hockenhull says it’s still suggested that racers have the ability to be self-sufficient.

“We are going to have rest stops on the course; it will be supported in that respect but it's not like in the past where we've had support vehicles with the riders all day. So you definitely need to be prepared to fix a tire or deal with a minor mechanical problem and those kinds of things.”

The organizers for this event had an opportunity to decide where they wanted to hold this race and their roots and the Crowsnest Pass’s history helped make finding the perfect location easier.

“We're Albertans so we definitely favored the idea of holding it on the Alberta side of the boarder and with all due respect to Banff and Jasper and Canmore, we loved the Crowsnest Pass as it's got a grittier history and we really liked that about it. We love that it's a cool mining community and we also were pretty sure because of that mining history that there would probably be a pretty good selection of backcountry roads and trails,” said Hockenhull.

There is currently no cap on the number of participants allowed, and Hockenhull doesn’t see that changing before race day.

“We don't have a specific limit yet. We are waiting for a formal approval from Castle Parks to see if there is any cap on the race in terms of participation. We aren't really anticipating that. We're hoping to have well into the hundreds in our inaugural race. It's been received really well so far. There's a lot of excitement in the endurance and mountain biking community. So hopefully it takes off and we'll have a couple hundred people lining up in August.”

There have already been about 35 people who registered for the race and the first 50 riders registered will receive a discount in their fee.

“The first 50 people registering can register for just $100 and there are a few of those spots still available. After that the fee goes up to $185.

The race will start in Blairmore and then it will go through Frank Slide and into Castle Parks before looping back.

Hockenhull says that the community has been very positive in response to this event.

“It sounds like Sinister Sports is really happy we're bringing the event there. They're big supporters of the community. So far we’ve got lots of support and interest from the community which is exactly what we were hoping was going to happen.”

The race will take place on August 17th and will be a historic day for the Community.

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