Organisers of the Park City Point 2 Point race have confirmed that Leadville 100 winner Rebecca Rusch will form part of a pedigree field when the 78 mile race takes place in Park City, Utah on September 3.
In its third year, the event was selected to be a part of the National Ultra Endurance Series (NUE Series). Of the eleven nationwide venues in the 2011 NUE Series, the PCP2P is the only race with a distance shorter than 100 miles. The NUE Series’ endorsement is a salute to PCP2P’s challenging course features, including significant climbs and continuous singletrack. Hundreds of cyclists have anticipated the 2011 PCP2P, which sold out in a record-breaking six minutes, because of its challenging course design. A total of 350 cyclists are set to compete in the PCP2P on Saturday, September 3, 2011 over Labor Day Weekend.
The PCP2P is known among bikers as a challenging and true point-to-point race. The 2011 course travels 78 miles and climbs roughly 14,000ft through the Wasatch Mountains without crossing, or using, the same trail twice. The course cuts through the area’s three ski resorts, including Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort, and will finish in the Forum at Canyons Resort. Featuring more than 90% singletrack and very few sections for resting, the PCP2P requires athletes to maintain their endurance and focus.
“Park City has over 400 miles of trail, which provides us with some incredible options for choosing our course,” said Race Director Jay Burke. “The P2P is merciless. Ups and downs, big miles and technical lines. The course is not for the faint of heart, and that’s exactly why the P2P has attracted some of the most prestigious endurance cyclists from around the country.”
Two-time defending PCP2P champion Alex Grant of the Cannondale Factory Team called the 2010 PCP2P “harder than Leadville” and described the course as “25 miles shorter [than Leadville] but with the same amount of vertical gain and 75 miles more singletrack. There were no road sections for resting, drafting or eating or drinking. [It’s] a pure mountain bike course.”
Joining Grant and Rusch in the 2011 PCP2P are pro endurance cyclists Tinker Juarez, Travis Brown, Josh Tostado, Bryson Perry, Billy Demong (Olympic Gold Medalist), Pua Sawicki, Amanda Carey, and Kelly Boniface.
The 350 slots for Park City’s only endurance mountain bike race filled up in six minutes during registration on February 15, 2011, compared to over four hours in 2010. Because of the overwhelming interest in the solo category over the past three years, the PCP2P duo category has been eliminated indefinitely. A $10,000 cash purse will be awarded to the top seven men and women racers in the Open Male and Open Female divisions.
The Park City Point 2 Point endurance mountain bike race is held annually in Park City, UT over Labor Day weekend and covers 78 miles of the areas 400 plus miles of trails. Registration opens every year on February 15th at 7PM. For more information about the PCP2P, please visit the event website.