Several thousand people attended the 2011 World Cup event at Dalby Forest

Organisers of the Cross-Country Mountain Bike World Cup hope it will return to Dalby and Pickering in 2012.

Nearly 400 riders from 37 countries took part in the International Cycling Union (UCI) 2011 event.

Competition manager Martyn Salt told BBC Radio York: "The UCI want to see people watching cycling and want to develop mountain biking.

"To deliver a crowd of thousands and a world-class mountain biking track in the forest is a great combination."

The streets of Pickering were packed for the Pro-Sprint Eliminator event and the two days on the World Cup course at Dalby Forest were well-attended despite gusty winds and showers.

If everyone's happy I'm sure we'll hopefully be back next year Martyn Salt, competition manager

Around 300 of the visitors took on the World Cup course in the Dalby Dare Challenge Event, which was held in between the official races on the Saturday.

"As long as you can ride some of the technical elements you can try it," said British Cycling assistant Nadine Spearing.

"They do have spills and come off but that's all part of mountain biking," she added.

"What you've got at Dalby is one of the world's best facilities for mountain biking," said British Cycling's chief executive Ian Drake.

"We've got great crowds, it was voted one of the best events last year by the riders, and you've got investment going into Dalby to make it even better, so we very much hope we can see this event in Yorkshire in the future."

"The UCI have to be happy, everyone has to be happy," Salt added, "and if everyone's happy I'm sure we'll hopefully be back next year."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version