After more than two decades, Squamish’s iconic Test of Metal mountain bike race is heading into its home stretch.
The race organizers have announced this year’s event on Saturday, June 18 will mark the last time it will be held.
The course is 67 kilometres and includes more than 1,200 metres of climbing and 30 kilometres of single-track. Over the years, the event has attracted more than 20,000 racers and represents the efforts of thousands of volunteers.
The festival also includes the Mini Metal on the Sunday for young riders and other activities over the weekend.
Explaining the decision to end the Test of Metal, Cliff Miller, one of the race’s founders, points to a number of factors, most notably the limits on the time and energy of those who organize the race right down to the many volunteers who work to make it happen.
“We’ve just been doing this for a long time,” he said.
He and many of them have also been running the event for years and felt it was time to leave.
“We were getting greyer and getting wrinklier,” he said.
Another factor is the change that Squamish has seen in recent years, including the growth of options for how people spend their time during the summer.
“Squamish is becoming a victim of its own success,” he said. “Every weekend, there’s a minimum of at least two, if not three or four events going on.”
When Test of Metal started, it was one of the few summer activities, alongside only a few others like logger sports and the ball tournament.
Still, interest in the race was strong, Miller added. “It’s not a registration problem.”
The event began taking shape decades ago. There had been some other races in the community, but fellow founder Kevin McLean approached Miller about the idea of a bigger race, so the two gathered at the former Cliffside Pub to map out the plans for what would become Test of Metal. In the process, they began to work on adding key elements to the community’s renowned trail network in order to make the course they wanted. Specifically, they added the Carpenter’s Son Bridge, Powerhouse Plunge and Farside to the network.
“Any one of those three are cornerstones of the trail network,” he said. “Put them all together, and Test of Metal did make a fairly significant contribution to the community.”
Besides the trail network, the organization’s legacy includes money for projects in the community.
Miller also said that the option of handing over the reins to new organizers was not realistic, considering how much time is required to keep the event running.
“I don’t think it’s that simple,” he said.
The organizers, Miller also said, want to make sure the event ends while it is still a success.
“It’s time to go out on a high note,” he said. “We had fun doing it…. It’s going to be one hell of a retirement party.”
