Downhill mountain biking racing is one of the world’s most exciting and exhilarating extreme sports. Many people have no idea what downhill racing truly consists of. Each run is individual and the racers are timed from the top of the race course to the bottom, and in turn the fastest time down the trail wins.

Each tack on the World cup circuit is different and consists of different terrain based on the location and topography of the mountain. The past year of World Cup Downhill Racing was one of the most exciting years in recent history, with a new young gun racer taking over the Men’s field, along with a long time winner continuing her streak in the female elite racing class.

Early in the season the world cup circuit was dominated by the American racer Aaron Gwin and French rider Loic Bruni. with Gwin winning the first race of the season in lourdes france and Bruni taking him his first win of his career in Cairns, Australia. Headline of first race reads, “USA back on top again! Gwin Wins World Cup Downhill”. The later half of the season was dominated by british rider Danny Hart.

Historically, the most important time during the World Cup Season is the Last few races of the year, because they lead into the World Championships. The last 3 World Cup races were taken home by Danny, the Brit with only one other win to his name before, at the 2008 World Championship. Hart then ended the season by winning world championship title in Val Di Sole, Italy by a landslide 2 seconds.

All you need to know about the women’s field is one name, Rachel Atherton. This superhuman English rider went on an 8 race win streak this season, winning every World Cup race and the World Championship race by over 8 Seconds. This win streak added to her 7 Race win streak coming off last year to make 15 consecutive wins for her.

Pinkbike is the largest and most reliable media source for mountain biker all over the world. Rachel Atherton was awarded the prestigious “Athlete of the year” award by Pinkbike. The website said, “It may be a long time before another pro downhill racer goes green fifteen in a row. We are fortunate to have watched the performance. Brava!” in regard to her impressive performance in the last two seasons.

The Downhill mountain bike scene is still on the rise in Connecticut and in a few years will hopefully will be a mainstream sport. Freshman mountain biker, David Lyons, from Hall High School said, “I can’t wait to see where the next racing takes the sport!” as well as, “Hopefully I will be able to start a Hall High Mountain Bike Club by the time a I graduate.”

The Local junior Racing scene was dominated by Avi Ehrlich of Hall High School with him being the highest ranked 17 year old in the state and second highest ranked 18 and under racer in New England. Ehrlich will be racing on the world cup circuit next season for the Eastern States Cup North American Downhill Team. Hopefully in the next few years we will see him racing in the world cup elite category, as he moves from 18 and under into Pro.