Windham to host World Cup racing for the third year

For the third year in a row, the world’s best professional mountain bikers will converge on Windham Mountain as the town hosts the eighth in a series of 10 World Cup events held all over the world. The 2012 edition of the RockyRoads.net UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano makes 10 stops worldwide with the Windham event taking place from June 30 through July 1.

This year, a much more serious story underscores race preparations. Windham (the town and the mountain) suffered devastating losses after Tropical Storm Irene and Hurricane Lee swept through late last summer. The damage was monumental, businesses were ravaged and houses swept downstream. The sidewalks on Main Street have been replaced. Basements that were buried in six feet of mud and debris are clean.

The good news — with the Summer Olympics a few short weeks after the races, Windham will be the last, best place in the U.S. to see members of the U.S. Olympic Mountain Bike Team and other international team racers prior to the Games.

Windham World Cup organizers are planning many community events again this year, including cross-country and downhill racing for all levels of ability, a block party and a concert, among other activities, to continue previous year’s efforts to involve racers and spectators alike in celebrating the uniqueness of the Windham area.

Windham is the eighth stop on a tour that also visits Pietermaritzburg, South Africa; Houffalize, Belgium; Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic; La Bresse, France; Val di Sole, Italy; Fort William, Great Britain; Mt. Sainte-Anne, Canada; Val d’Isere, France; and Hafjell, Norway.

For more information or to volunteer, visit www.racewindham.com.