It took only 48 minutes on New Year's Day Monday for the 800 spots available for the North Shore Credit Union Test of Metal mountain bike to sell out.
"This simply blew away our expectations," said race organizer Cliff Miller. "We thought that we'd beat last year's four hour record, but under an hour is mind-blowing."
According to organizers, several people attempted to get into the online registration system at the opening time Jan. 1 at 6 p.m., but the incredible volume slowed the system down leaving many struggling to log on.
After missing out on last year's race registration by a mere couple of minutes, Squamish local Garry Cotter was determined to make it. He began his log on attempts at 5:55 p.m., and his persistence paid off when he became the first registrant of 2007.
"First place, eh?" said Cotter. "This is the only chance I have of coming in first in this race."
The 2006 Test of Metal saw the launch of a new online registration system and resulted in a record sellout of four hours, significantly down from the six-day registration of 2005.
Miller prepared for this year's registration by organizing a "Test of the dog that bit you" registration party at a local Squamish warehouse, but barely had time to get the party started before it was all over.
"We set up a LCD projector and computer to watch the registrations come in. We cooked up some double-smoked ham, but it all happened so quickly that no one got a chance to eat before the registration was full," Miller said.
Local rider Greg Van Hierden arrived at the party after successfully registering for the race.
"I was much more nervous trying to register than I've ever been for the race," Van Hierden said.
Those who didn't make it under the registration cut off could still find themselves at the starting line if they remembered to get on the waiting list. But those spots appear to be just as coveted. Just one hour into wait list registration, 225 people had signed up and the list will be capped at 500. And those who did secure one of the coveted spots are reminded to draft a training regime and consult the training pages of the Test of Metal website.
The Test of Metal has become one of the most successful mountain bike races in North America on the strength of its dedicated volunteers,the strong community support and committed sponsors.
