UCI Mountain Bike World Cup 2015 Held at Windham Mountain

Windham Mountain is the U.S. host for the Annual Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Mountain Bike World Cup from August 6 -9, 2015.

Windham Mountain is one of only four sites to host both disciplines on the race circuit: Olympic Cross-Country (XCO) and Downhill (DHI), where riders race the clock on a treacherous descent. Having hosted the event four of the past five years, the audience for the Windham World Cup continues to grow. Tens of thousands of visitors, including professional and amateur athletes from more than 40 countries and six continents, come to watch the best cyclists in the world take on the Windham Mountain courses and to participate in the amateur races themselves.

“Being a host of the World Cup has helped us in a lot of ways”, says Chip Seamans, President and General Manager of Windham Mountain. “Not only does it bring business to the Mountain for this particular week, but the Mountain has seen business grow around the event, creating momentum to help us build our new Mountain Bike Park that just recently opened. This has helped put us on the map with the mountain bike community, sparking their interest in Windham.” For Windham, it’s the marketing and the recognition they receive around the event every year that has really helped strengthen their presence and helped them grow.

Because of the high popularity of the World Cup, Windham Mountain has seen an increase in connections with small businesses in the area. “The event is an all year effort for not only Windham, but for small businesses within the community as well,” says Seamans. “With Windham Area Recreation Foundation (WARF), a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the town of Windham for its visitors and year-round residents, having created a series of multi-use paths, it has brought large crowds of mountain bikers to the area.”

While the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup has presented a lot of benefits to the Mountain such as an increase in employment and recognition of the Resort during every season, it has also created a lot of challenges. “It’s a huge undertaking,” Seamans states. “It requires a lot of commitment from many volunteers from the area. The biggest challenge is the organizational aspect of the event, however it’s how we bring the community together and work so well with one another.”

Read more about the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup at Windham Mountain.

Visit the Windham Mountain website.