Singletrack 6, a mountain bike event that runs over six days in various communities in Western Canada, was held in the West Kootenays for the first time and was a huge success. Here are our favourite pics from the event.

The mountain bike race series called Singletrack 6 was created four years ago by the same people behind the popular TransRockies competition and for the first time in its history, it visited the West Kootenay towns of Rossland, Nelson and Kaslo. The event began on Saturday, July 29, and approximately 300 riders took part including some from as far away as Christchurch, New Zealand. They took to the slopes of Red Mountain, traversed the Seven Summits, biked through Nelson and into the surrounding alpine and shredded the world-class trails in Kaslo.

The Start of Stage 1. John Gibson photo.

The race is unique in the competition world because the format rewards both fitness and technical prowess on a bike. Within each stage, there is a separate ‘timed-descent’ section in the course. More cross-country-minded riders tend to go for the overall stage victory, or even overall race victory, while enduro and gravity-oriented riders compete for the timed descent section every day. Steve Doucet (Kaslo), Carter Nieuwesteeg (Fernie), Mitch Tom (Kimberley) and Kate Forbes, Travis Hauck, Con Diamond, and Deanna Teichrob all from Nelson were the local West Kootenay riders in the race. To see the results of each stage, log on to singletrack6.com.

Below are our favourite pics from this year’s race, taken by photographer extraordinaire John Gibson, who’s shot for Freeride, RedBull and every noteworthy bike magazine out there.

To register for next year’s Singletrack 6, which will take place around Golden, log on to singletrack6.com.

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