As the inaugural Youth Loonie Race season came to a close on Sunday (Sept.4), organizers were hailing the race series as a resounding success.
"More than 200 kids participated in the series," said SORCA youth director and Youth Loonie Race organizer Jim Douglas. "We ran 10 races plus the finals on Sunday."
The races were run every second Sunday during the past summer, with participants performing trail maintenance during off weeks, according to Douglas.
"Really, this has been the third year of an evolution," he said. "I have lived for 14 years in Squamish, but had been working in Vancouver. When I was still stationed in Vancouver, the principal of Brackendale Elementary approached me knowing that I race mountain bikes, and asked me to take some of the kids out for rides, because they didn't have anyone to take them out."Douglas, the sixth ranked competitive cross country mountain biker in B.C., sponsored by Marin Bikes in California, knew the value of passing on his skills to a younger generation and agreed to take a few kids out for rides.
"Then the idea to have racers in that category kind of started forming in my mind," he said. "I knew I couldn't really do the idea justice until I was working up here."
Luckily, a position opened up in the area, and Douglas jumped on the opportunity to work close to home and develop his idea for a youth race series.
"After being transferred here I had more time on my hands because I wasn't traveling so much," he said. "With the SORCA executive I sort of created my own position of youth director because I wanted to get this thing going. It took off like crazy.
"Before it was two or three kids from Brackendale, but this year more than 200 kids participated," he said.
With SORCA's help, Douglas said he was able to advertise the event and get the message out about the series through word of mouth.
"The natural thing was to model it after the adult Toonie Races," he said. "It definitely was a learning experience, because I had never put on races before, I had just been in them."
But, through trial and error, Douglas was able to develop a program that included awarding points not only for races won, but also for performing trail maintenance.
"We wanted to not only foster the next generation of racers, but also the next generation of people who will take care of the trails," he said.
Douglas hosted a backyard barbecue for participants on Sunday (Sept. 4) following the finals, which included bike shop gift certificate prizes for the top riders of the series.
"Everyone got something at the end of the day," said Douglas.
Already in the planning stages for a second season of Youth Loonie Races, Douglas said he hopes to see even more area kids come out to participate next year.
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