Mt. Brighton hosts downhill Dual Slalom Mt. Bike

Mt. Brighton hosts downhill Dual Slalom Mt. Bike

               Mt. Brighton hosts downhill Dual Slalom Mt. Bike racing series beginning June 12

Eight-round downhill mountain bike race series is the first-of-its-kind at a ski area in southeastern Michigan; chairlift retrofitted for bikes

Local Media Contact:  Pat Schutte, (248) 821-3380, pat@highprofilepr.com

BRIGHTON, Mich. (June 10, 2014) – With a custom-built clay banked slalom course and the new four-person chairlift retrofitted to hold bicycles, Mt. Brighton is set to begin a new chapter in Michigan action sports history with the first-of-its-kind downhill mt. bike dual slalom racing series – keeping the thrill going all summer long at the Vail Resorts property.

Modeled after Vail’s (Colo.) acclaimed “Town Series” downhill mountain bike racing, the MTB DH Dual Slalom Series at Mt. Brighton headlines the new Thursday Mountain Club (TMC), a festival-like weekend kick-off featuring live music, BBQ and artisan beers held Thursday nights in the summer.

“Along the same lines as the popular Town Series, downhill mountain bike racing is a long-standing tradition at Vail and we’re pumped to be able to carry that tradition over to Michigan, making Mt. Brighton the first Metro Detroit ski area to open its chairlift to bikers and host a summer-long race series,” said Taylor Ogilvie, General Manager at Mt. Brighton.

With two banked lanes running side-by-side down the NASTAR ski/snowboard race hill, the professionally-timed MTB DH Dual Slalom races will start out of the actual ski/snowboard racing start shack and finish in front of the lodge at the base of Mt. Brighton. Cyclists will charge across the steeper upper portion of the race hill, banking in and out of special dugout clay corners before opening up and diving back under the chairlift and charging to the finish line through a series of ski gates in the timed runs – all within view of spectators and fellow racers enjoying the TMC music, food and drinks at the base of Mt. Brighton.

“The atmosphere, though competitively-charged, will be festive to say the least,” added Ogilvie. “Downhill mountain bike racing will be new for a lot of cyclists in this area. But judging from the riding talent seen at places like the Potawatomi Trail (Pinckney State Recreation Area) and Island Lake (Brighton), the racing energy level will pick up right where our ski racing scene left off and carry on throughout the summer on Thursday evenings – under the lights if need be!”

·        Mt. Brighton DH MTB Dual Slalom Series

·        June 12 & 26, July 10 & 24, Aug. 7 & 21, Sept. 4 & 18 (eight races)

·        Check-in 5-6 p.m., racing starts at 6:30 p.m. (Note: Register online @ mtbrighton.com)

·        Cost: Only $10. And you can save $10 if you sign up in advance for all eight races.

·        Helmets are mandatory

·        Action highlights will be videotaped and uploaded to YouTube within 48 hours of the event

·        Prizes, donated by a host of local & national sponsors, will be plentiful

For more information on the new Mt. Brighton DH MTB Dual Slalom Series, including registration, check out our website at www.mtbrighton.com

About Mt. Brighton

Since 1960, Mt. Brighton Ski Area in Southeast Michigan has been one of the legendary family winter destinations on the Midwest snowsports scene. With a recent influx of $10 million of improvements including new chairlifts, enhanced learning terrain, new base area facilities and children’s ski and ride school center, Michigan’s most innovative terrain parks, and a new powerful state-of-the-art snowmaking system, the entire guest experience has been completely re-imagined and elevated above that offered by the competition. Skiers and riders from Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing and Northwest Ohio can easily access 26 trails and six lifts covering 130 acres. Having converted thousands of first-timers into lifelong skiers and riders, and now with the opportunity to take that passion to Vail Resorts’ iconic western mountains, Mt. Brighton is truly the place Where Epic begins.

About Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN)
Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading mountain resort operator in the United States. The Company’s subsidiaries operate the mountain resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Canyons in Utah; Afton Alps in Minnesota and Mt. Brighton in Michigan; and the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Company’s subsidiary, RockResorts, a luxury resort hotel company, manages casually elegant properties. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning, development and construction subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN). The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and consumer website is www.snow.com.