About 600 bikers amassed Friday at Buckley Park for a parade celebrating Durango’s successful bid to host the 2030 Union Cycliste Internationale Mountain Bike World Championship.
Jubilant riders, young and old, lined up at the intersection of Main Avenue to pedal through downtown in honor of the return of one of the world’s premier cycling competitions – 35 years after the first championship was held in Durango back in 1990.
Gaige Sippy, former director of the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, said that though many cities claim the title of the mountain bike capitol of the world, Durango’s storied cycling history and the volume of world champions make this community more deserving than many others. He was followed by world champion Todd Wells, Purgatory Resort general manager Dave Rathburn, Mayor Gilda Yazzie and Mayor pro tem Dave Woodruff.
“Durango truly represents the best of Colorado and the best of what a host city could be,” Yazzie said. “We honor those who paved the way to get here. We are not just a host city, we are a city of champions.”
With that spirit in mind, the parade set off, led by local legends of the sport Vuelta A España champion Sepp Kuss, Olympians Riley Amos and Todd Wells, and mountain bike short track champion Bailey Cioppa. They were joined by junior national champions Ian Barton, Milo Deem, Zoey Waage, Cooper Wells and sisters Anna and Leah Morozowich representing the bright future of Durango’s competitive cycling repertoire.
Spectators lined the sidewalks, offering high-fives to the riders in the parade, cheering on the riders as they passed. The procession passed all the way down Main Avenue before looping back to East Second Avenue and back to Buckley Park, where food carts and a projector screen had been set up for a showing of the “GC Kuss” documentary.
Bob Smith, who went to Fort Lewis College in the 1970s and rode in the first Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, said he was there in 1990 for the first UCI championship.
“I watched the first one in Durango,” he said. “I feel amazing that it’s coming back. There are so many young kids who are just amazing, and I can’t wait to see them in 2030.”
Hogan Koesis, one of the lead trail designers for the in-progress Durango Mesa Park, helped put in the bid with UCI to make Durango the 2030 host city. Sippy said that without Koesis, the city may not have been given the honor of hosting. For Koesis, though, it was just exciting that Durango would be able to show off the incredible riding that helped put the city on the map in the first place.
“I’m super stoked that the town gets to relish in what started it all,” he said.
FLC graduates Ian Williams and Sabrina Hayes, who both rode competitively for the college, were also thrilled that the championship would return to Durango. They both said biking had built them lasting relationships, and that they were glad Durango’s trails and cycling community would be celebrated.
“I’m excited that worlds is coming to Durango, because the very first mountain bike worlds ever was here,” Hayes said. “It’s really cool. It gives me a reason to come back and connect with the Durango community while I’m in graduate school.”
“I love biking because I love getting to spend time in the outdoors,” Williams said. “I’ve met most of my friends through biking and made lifelong memories. So I’m excited to see the fastest bike racers in the world in Durango, and I’m excited to watch with my friends.”
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
