Yak Attack Tempts Elite Riders
News Release / 01.08.2010
To compliment the Nepal Year of Tourism 2011, Extreme World Challenges and the Nepal Tourism Board have teamed up to put together the biggest and best Yak Attack to date. Commencing on March 7th 2011and finishing 12 days later, the "worlds highest mountain bike race" will now also take in over 200km of Himalayan foothills before hitting the mountains proper.In a bid to attract an international field capable of giving the Nepali riders a run for their money, the organisers have dramatically increased the prize fund from that of previous years. For 2011 there will be over £7000 worth of prize funds available, including £3000 and free entry for the overall winner and, an event first, a female riders category, with £1000 and free entry going to that eventual winner.
In previous years, local riders have had it all their own way, with the best placed international rider being last years 5th placed Australian veteran, Phil Hystek. However with the Asian MTB championships looming in November 2011, the race organisers are hoping to attract an elite group of international riders that are able to push the local riders all the way and possibly produce the first ever international winner. In addition to this, it is hoped that the event will raise enough money to be able to send at least one of Nepals up and coming mountain bikers to the UK to train and race throughout the 2011 summer season.
Yak Attack was originally created as a race between runner and mountain biker, but with the perpetual improvement of trails in the Annapurna area, it was no longer viable for foot to compete against wheel and Yak Attack became a pure mountain bike event. Over its 5 years, it has been altered, improved and lengthened and now covers approx 420km of mountain trails and takes in close to 9000m of climbing, peaking at an awesome 5416m. The race has been labelled as one of the world’s toughest stage races around and has been featured in magazines such as Singletrack, MBUK, Mens Fitness, FHM, XXC and Breathe and has also had coverage on Welsh and Swedish TV!
Riders numbers are limited to 20 local and 20 international due to the delicate nature of the enviroment the race passes through and entries are on a first come first seved basis. Entries close on 30 September and details of the race can be found at www.yak-attack.co.uk.
