The Claymore Challenge at Highland Mountain Bike Park 2012

I had been looking forward to this event for quite some time.  This event is part of the FMB World Tour and brings with it the heaviest slopestyle hitters from around the world.  Not only were names like Brandon Semenuk, Martin Soderstrom, Kyle Strait and Brett Rheeder in attendance but this was going to be broadcast live worlwide via Red Bull.

I'm a huge fan of Red Bull and what they are doing to take sports to a new level.  I've spent countless hours watching Red Bull tv, both live and replays and I couldn't wait to actually take part in such an event.  Here's my personal Claymore Challenge experience.


Highland Mountain Bike Park is a hair under two hours away so my plan was to get out of the house by 7 am to be there for 9 am.  Well, as luck would have it I woke up with a mad case of diarrhea and didn't hit the road until after 8.  I arrived at around 10:30 and immediately became acquainted with the porcelain bowl.  I then made my way up the mountain with all my gear and one bottle of water, not feeling like death just yet.  Shortly after though, my wellness took a serious decline.  Practice was scheduled to go until 1:30 which allowed me plenty of time to scope out the course and make plans for locations and such.  Unfortunately the practice session wasn't very busy at all.  That's ok though because I wasn't moving very much anyway.  I had all I could do to keep from vomiting and kept my head in my lap for a good portion of the time.  By 1 pm my water had been long expired and I just wasn't getting any better.  I was scared to head down the mountain because I feared that I wouldn't make it back up but I really needed liquids.  So, I made the trek down out of pure necessity.  I ended up laying out on a couch in the cafe for about an hour and was really fearing the 2hr. drive home.  As much as I wanted to stay to catch the actual event, I just couldn't do it.  There was no way I could hike back up the mountain.  I wasn't even sure if I'd make it home.

So, I caught a few of the first riders make their first runs from the patio and then I headed for the car with my head hanging low....very low.  Better luck next time I suppose.  Here are a few of my images from the practice session with a few from the patio as well.

Ryan Howard and Kyle Strait disecting the course:


Yannik Grannieri and Sam Pilgrim scoping out the drop:


Brandon Semenuk:







Reece Wallace:








Jakum Vencl:








Martin Soderstrom:




Simon Kirchmann:




Ryan Howard:




Gregg Watts:




Casey Groves:




Kyle Strait:


Brayden Barrett-Hay