5-4-07 // Qashqai Challenge Begins This Weekend

Street, dirt and freeride specialists around the globe have descended upon Newcastle, UK and are readying themselves for the first round of competition in the Qashqai Urban Challenge. For the next four weeks riders will be traveling across Europe to compete in four back-to-back urban competitions in the locale and disciplines of Newcastle/North Shore, Milan/dirt jump, Madrid/Street, and Cologne/park before the finals a month later—a big air competition in Paris.

The Qashqai Schedule
May 4th/5th Newcastle (UK) Centre for Life - North shore
May 11th/12th Milan (ITA) Piazza Duca d’Aosta - Dirt
May 18th/19th Madrid (ESP) Azca - Street
May 25th/26th Cologne (GER) Mediapark - Park
June 22nd/23rd Paris La Villette - Big Air

Many riders have spent the entire winter preparing and everybody should look out for new and never-before-seen tricks. Cameron McCaul is definitely excited to compete, “I prepared well during the winter for the Qashqai Urban Challenge. I rode downhill and learned new tricks in my backyard. I built some new stunts in order to get used to the high standard of all the courses. I can’t wait to go over to Europe and throw down!”

He also tried to give a little forecast on who may go home with the overall title. “It is really hard to say, because all the riders are really good. But the ones to watch will be definitely Paul Bas, Darren Berrecloth, Kyle Strait, and Aaron Chase. I am sure there will be some surprises as well!”

Trond Hansen, who also spent the whole winter in the US, is ready for the Qashqai Urban Challenge, “I went to California this winter to ride lots and work on my tricks. I went to Woodward West and I already rode a comp in Oregon and in Vienna, both times I was on the podium, even though I played it safe and did only what I’ve got 100% dialed. It’s going to be sick to ride all those comps with the world’s best riders!”

The Norwegian rider knows that the competition is not sleeping and he is sure that many riders can throw it down, “There are many who are able to win the tour. I think Darren Berrecloth, Cameron McCaul, Darren Pokoj, Ben Boyko and Paul Bas have good chances.”

Qashqai is the biggest series of progressive mountain bike competitions ever assembled, with an impressive list of competitors from all over the world. Nissan UK, Vans, Swatch, Oakley, and Dakine are sponsoring the event and have really upped the stakes by providing a 200,000 Euro cash purse (about $263,000)—the largest in any freeride competition ever. Ironically, although freeriding started out as a fun way to get away from competitive racing, the competitive spirit is a hard one to escape and will be back in full force starting this weekend. We’ll have the results from the first round of competition here at Bikemag.com so check back with us next week and see just how serious things got.

More information about the Quashqai is on www.nissan-qashqaichallenge.com