Niederdorf (South Tyrol, Italy) 10 July 2011. The 17th Südtirol Dolomiti Superbike is history. With 3600 participants from 30 Nations, the organisers could beatthe registrations from the previous year.
The children’s contest, the “Dolomiti Superbike Junior Race” hit a new record with 400 registrations.”Everything went like clockwork,” said OC President Kurt Ploner after the event. “Even the injuries remained within limits. My gratitude goes to the uncountable helpers who worked very hard with commitment and again gave their best. The weather also played along, which made the execution of the race certainly easier”.
The Organising Committee of the Dolomiti Superbike has conducted a total of 17 races since 1995. The tenth marathon in 2004 had to be aborted prematurely due to rain, snow and cold. The two Südtirol Dolomiti Superbike events of 2006 and 2007 were counted towards the UCI Marathon World Cup. Besides hosting the 14th Südtirol Dolomiti Superbike event in 2008, Niederdorf presented the UCI World Championships Marathon on the proceeding Saturday.
“We are surprised that so many bikers, despite Maratona dles Dolomites at the weekend, took part in the race,” said OC President Kurt Ploner. “We were able to confirm the number of participants from the previous year, which pleased us very much. Obviously we have worked well in recent years. Nothing beats a great service and good provision. The participants need to focus primarily on the competition; our task is to ensure that they feel comfortable and additionally we had a large core audience in Niederdorf”.
Another reason for the popularity of the race as seen by Ploner lies in the racing character of the event. “Many participants compete with each other or merely want to improve their times from the previous year. It’s a challenge that moves many to come to the Alta Pusteria each year”. Firstly, the Mountainbike classic in the Dolomites was brought forward to the Saturday which was necessary because on Sunday a second major sporting event “Maratona dles Dolomites” with road bikes took place in South Tyrol. The organisers in Niederdorf were able to maintain the traditional Mountain bike race in the Dolomites without having to bring it forward completely or postpone it anyway. Other important mountain bike races were confirmed on the racing calendar and besides, the volunteers celebrate the traditional Sacred Heart festival at the beginning of July. After the successes of the 2011 event, the Organising Committee is toying with the idea whether to implement the event to a Saturday from now on.
The popular children’s race “Dolomiti Superbike Junior Race” was moved from Saturday to Sunday. 400 (!) children between the ages of 3 and 14 lined Main Square on Sunday morning at the start-finish area of the Dolomiti Superbike to complete their laps. Numerous known personalities from sports and politics took part in the 17th race meeting. The South Tyrolean Minister of Transport, Thomas Widmann, a most valued competitor has participated in all the events to date; Veronika Stirner, Member of South Tyrolean Parliament; Super-G World Champion Christof Innerhofer and his team-mate Werner Heel were also present. Innerhofer, Widmann and Stirner entered the race on behalf of the South Tyrol Sports Aid which campaigns for financial assitance to support youth sports. Werner Heel Werner represented the UNICEF Children’s Fund.
MarathonMTB.com were represented by Masters duo Craig McKeown and Hans Dielacher. This was the second test of their pre-TransAlp preparation. Entering the 60km distance, McKeown and Dielacher finished 5th and 3rd in their respective classes. A great result that confirms their podium chances for the upcoming Craft Bike Transalp powered by Nissan, which starts in Mittenwald this weekend. In the all over rankings of the Südtirol Dolomiti Superbike Italy leads with 13 wins after 17 races followed by Switzerland with nine and Germany seven. Austrian marathon specialists have won the traditional race twice while athletes from Finland, France and Columbia have had single victories.
Full results can be seen online.