Lake Placid area adding major downhill mountain bike competition

Whiteface Mountain eyed for 2025 racing event

By Mike Lynch

Fresh from hosting its first World Cup mountain biking races, the Lake Placid region is adding another discipline to mix next year. 

On Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced that the Adirondack Park resort area would host downhill for the first time in addition to cross-country races during the weekend of Oct. 3 to 5 next year. 

“We knew obviously this was going to be in the fold for the year ahead so we’re excited to kind of embrace it, learn more about it,” said Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) spokeswoman Darcy Norfolk. “We know it’s popular, and now it’s our job to plan and execute another discipline at another level for the event taking place next October.” 

This past weekend, ORDA hosted World Cup cross-country mountain bike races at Mount Van Hoevenberg, an event that took months of planning both internally and with community stakeholders. 

The Olympic venue was one of 15 stops for the series that visits 10 countries on three continents. 

It drew 2,800 people Friday, about 4,000 Saturday and nearly 4,500 on Sunday during the main event: marathon distance World Cup and an Olympic distance World Cup race between the men’s and women’s elite division. Many tickets were provided free in the days leading toward the event..

Norfolk said that the event exceeded ORDA’s expectations. That positive tone was echoed by some others in the community even though the races didn’t draw 5,000 to 8,000 people on weekend days as ORDA originally projected. 

“I think that overall it was handled extremely well,” said Barkeater Trails Alliance Executive Director Glenn Glover. “The spectators, the athletes were super pleased by everything. And as far as we’ve heard so far, our community hasn’t had any significant negative experiences.”

Glover’s group hosted a downtown celebration during the weekend and participated through the months-long planning process leading up to the weekend. 

But the downhill event will take a whole new level of coordination, in part because downhill races draw larger crowds than cross-country races. 

In addition, ORDA and event partner, Warner Bros., have to determine the specific ORDA sites to host the different races. 

Norfolk said there’s a full evaluation taking place on venues for the cross-country and downhill races. ORDA’s Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington seems like a natural fit for the downhill and will be one of the potential competition sites along with Mount Van Hoevenberg, which is 15 miles from Whiteface. A third site between the venues could be used for vendors and other activities. 

“We’re going to look at all the options and make a decision for next year based on what is the best approach,” Norfolk said. 

Hosting the events also means creating courses for the riders to use. To do that, ORDA will have to go through state permitting processes with the Adirondack Park Agency and possibly the Department of Conservation. Adding to the complexity is that Whiteface is in the Adirondack Forest Preserve. 

North Elba Supervisor Derek Doty, who also participated in stakeholder meetings for the event, wasn’t able to attend this past weekend but has heard good reviews.

“I’m still learning about this year’s event, but my impression is it was more than successful,” he said. “I mean, first of all, the good Lord gave us an absolutely gorgeous weekend. We had colors. There were lots of spectators.” 

He said concerns that the area wouldn’t have enough lodging because they would be booked by leaf-peepers didn’t come to fruition. 

“We were full, but there weren’t any complaints over not getting lodging,” he said. “So I really think it worked out great.” 

ORDA’s contract to host the biking events runs through 2026.