Two professional mountain bikers from Nelson competed at Red Bull Rampage in Virgin, Utah on Friday.

Three time champion Kurt Sorge was joined by Rampage rookie Alex Volokhov. Sorge last won the event in 2017. Volokhov was supposed to compete last year but crashed during a practice run the day before the event.

According to their website, Red Bull Rampage is “the premier big-mountain freeride event. It brings the world’s top riders to the toughest terrain in the world to showcase the biggest and baddest tricks, lines and sends the sport has seen yet.”

18 riders were invited to compete this year. Sorge and Volokhov were two of the three Canadians who took part. Tom Van Steenbergen, who moved to Canada from the Netherlands at 11, was the third.

Riders spend a week prior to the event “digging” their lines. Each rider has a team of “diggers” who help them choose which route down the mountain to take. This involves building a line, and creating jumps, drops and turns.

Each rider gets two runs which are scored out of 100. The best individual run wins the competition. The winner is picked by a panel of judges. It is not a race down the mountain: standings are based on the difficulty of the run, execution of the ride, and tricks.

This year’s winner was American Cam Zinc with a score of 95. He also won in 2010. Volokhov finished 12th with a score of 72, Sorge placed 13th with a score of 69.66.

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