HISTORY

2009

Unbeatable! Offenburg again voted the best Mountain Bike World Cup!

The World Cycling Federation UCI announced for the second year running Offenburg as the Best World Cup Event in 2009. As in the previous year the deciding factors contributing to defending the title include the top organization from Scheiderbauer Sports, the spectacular course and the large enthusiastic crowds. Sponsors, Teams and the media unanimously voted Offenburg as the best cross country event. In winning the award Offenburg has proved that it is the leader in cross country mountain bike events.

The Franch Olympic Champion Julien Absalon managed to land the hattrick and show
his dominance in mountain bike sports again. In womens race the Chinese Ren Chengyuan succeeded in winning the title after starting from position 54. 

Again around 20.000 supporters joined the spectacular event at Offenburg.

2008
Mountain Bike world votes the World Cup in Offenburg the best Event of the Year

The world cycling Federation, Journalists, Sponsors, Riders and Teams all agreed that Offenburg is the 2008 Event of the Year. Offenburg have been awarded the best Cross Country Mountain Bike Event of the Year.

After coming second behind Houffalize in 2007, Offenburg put on a show, with over 20.000 spectators. On the World Cup calendar since last season only, this event, organised by Anna and Jörg Scheiderbauer and their team, succeeded in taking the honours thanks to a remarkable organisation and a particularly spectacular circuit.

„It´s an absolute privilege to win this award and gives us further motivation to excel in 2009! We would like to thank our crew and helpers, without this support the event would not take place.“ commented Anna Baylis-Scheiderbauer. The winners from 2007, Houfalize took second place, followed by the World Cup in Mont Sainte Anne in Canada.

2007
Successful World Cup Premiere in Offenburg
For the first time, Offenburg was the venue for a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. The premiere was successful! For the Event Organisers who seemed to have everything in control, for the spectators who enjoyed an exciting race and weekends entertainment and most of all Irina Kalentyeva and Julian Absalon, the World Cup winners. Record numbers of spectators lined the course for the Junior races on Saturday. Unfortunately the summer was not too be seen early Sunday morning. The heavy rain caused problems for many elite women riders. The men had more luck with the sun shining, enabling everyone to enjoy the racing. All in all a World-class event.

2006
Due to the increasing numbers of competitors in the Marathon Challenge, the decision was made to seperate the Marathon and Cross Country events. An extremly early date was allocated, the 9th of April to host the opening round of the National Series. The organising crew worked over the winter to make the course weather-proof and spectator-friendly. Over 100 Truck-loads of soil were brought in to extend the spectator platforms. Following tradition a forth spectator attraction the „Dual Speed“ was built. Despite the cold and rainy weather there was a record 13.000 spectators. The winner, shooting star Florian Vogel proved to be too strong in the mens competitor. Irina Kalentieva won again on her favourite course. None of the organisers anticipated at this stage, that one year later a World Cup race would take place.

Surprize!
Short before take-off to South Africa for the Cape Epic, the Scheiderbauers received an E-Mail from the World Cycling Federation (UCI) with interest in promoting the event to a World Cup. Within two days the professional application was complete. Included in the bid a supporting letter from the Mayor of Offenburg.

D-Day
And the winner is Offenburg! On the 24th of September Offenburg receives the good news from the UCI. The organisers have the privalige of hosting a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in 2007. Anna Baylis-Scheiderbauer and Jörg Scheiderbauer, along with the 30 members of the organisations team won the bid against rivals Willingen and Garmisch Partenkirchen. Even big International cities like Madrid and Spa had to make room for the new World Cup host city Offenburg.

2005
The German National Cycling Federation (BDR) approaches the organisers with the mission to add the Event in the National Series. At first the Scheiderbauers were not too keen on the idee of joining a series, however with feedback from the Event-Crew the decision was made.

Consequently the Olympic Cross Country was a National Round of the popular Bundesliga-Series. On the 15th of May, the skys turned gray. However, the rain didn´t stop the spectators from lining the forest to cheer on the stars. The Worldclass drop, a spectacular free-fall joined the other two spectator attractions to rate the course as one of the hardest in Germany. The proud owner of a Olympic Silver Medal, Jose Antonio Hermida from Spain won the mens race, and the Russian Irina Kalentieva took the honors in the womens race.

1.500 Competitors take the Challenge

In 2005 it was clear that the organisers had put a lot more work into making the Marathon one to remember. A fantastic course winding through the Black Forest and a Start-Package worth every cent inspired the competitors. A sprint-Finsh kept the spectators on the edge of their seats, with German rider Thomas Nicke taking the honors. Daniela Louis repeated her winning style and came in comfortably in front of GHOST rider Esther Süss.

2004
In March, just one month before the big event, Jörg Scheiderbauer stumbled into a small problem. The private owners of the land in which the marathon was to be directed, seemed to have a problem with having hundreds of Mountain Bikers riding over their property. The first time race organiser, with the help of a local farmer managed to convince the property owners. After a glass of wine a solution was found. The friendly connection still exists today. In some cases it brought about a very positive enthusiasm for the Mountain Bike sport.

On the 24th of April 2004 the race had began. Almost 1000 competitors took up the challenge, over three different courses, with a perfect 24 °C. The longest challenge with 93 km was won by the Austrian Alban Lakta with an amazing winning time of 3,5 hours. The swiss rider Danieal Louis took out the Womens race.

On the 25th of April, athletes from all over the world lined up for the Olympic cross country race. Not only the riders, also the event itself accelerated rapidly. The premiere attracted over 10.000 spectators, a break-through! The first International Mountain Bike race in the area with the UCI Category E1 was a huge success. The winners: Olympic Champion Bart Brentjens from Holland and Sabine Spitz, the then-World Champion. The first spectator attractions: Northshore and Wolfsdrop.

2003
Jörg Scheiderbauer had a vision, to organise an International Mountain Bike Race in Rammersweier, the base of Team GHOST International. The town Mayor Gerhard Hurst was immediately prepared to support this „crazy idea“. In September 2003 the newspapers reported that a huge Mountain Bike event was planned in 2004. The 24th and 25th of April 2004 were the proposed dates for the premiere of the WORLDCLASS MOUNTAIN BIKE CHALLENGE. On the 24th of April a Marathon and 25th of April an Olympic Cross Country race.