3Days-4Races: Biketember was once again a mountain bike festival of superlatives

Three series finals offered the broad range of disciplines in bike sport: As part of the Specialized-SRAM Enduro Series, Gerd Skant and Birgit Braumann were crowned Austrian Enduro champions. In Cross Country, Tyrolean Karl Markt secured overall victory in the Mountain Bike League Austria. David Trummer was the best Austrian in the downhill category, finishing third overall in the iXS European Downhill Cup.

The big showdown of the iXS European Downhill Cup - the highest race series after the World Cup - traditionally took place as part of the Biketember Festival in Saalfelden Leogang and thanks to Styrian David Trummer, an Austrian was also involved in the battle for the overall standings. Less than a second ultimately decided a podium finish for the Styrian in the last race of the season in Sunday's super final. But even if it wasn't quite enough for the podium in Leogang, Trummer was able to defend his third place in the overall standings: "Of course that one second annoys me. I certainly lost a lot of time in the upper, very muddy section, but everyone fought and I achieved my goal for the season, third place in the overall standings. I'm happy with that," explained Trummer. The day's and overall victory went to Poland's Slawomir Lukasik, who dominated the elite men's field with a lead of over five seconds.
Veronika Widmann from South Tyrol was the woman of the moment in the women's event: "I've already achieved a great result in Leogang this year with an eighth place in the World Cup, and the fact that I was able to secure the day's and overall victory here today simply couldn't be better."

There was an Austrian overall victory in the youth class: despite crashing in the final run, the young Saalbacher Valentina Höll secured the overall title in the "Pro Youth" class, once again underlining her outstanding talent.

Austrian enduro championships for the first time
 
The Biketember Festival 2016 was also good for a premiere: the Austrian Enduro Championship titles were awarded for the first time. The first national champion in this young discipline was Gerd Skant from Graz: "I got into enduro last year through BMX riding and had a good season this year, which was crowned with today's championship title," said Skant. Vienna's Birgit Braumann was the best rider in the women's category, completing the lap known as the "Big-5-Challenge" with 40 kilometers (12.6 of which on rated stages) and around 3,500 meters of elevation gain. She can now also call herself the national champion.

Markt sprinted to overall victory at the Cross Country in Saalfelden
 
At the Cross Country European Cup in Saalfelden, Tyrolean Karl Markt fought a real mud battle in the showdown for overall victory in the Mountain Bike League Austria - a nail-biting final against rival Martin Loo (Estonia), with the happier outcome for the national champion: "I knew that if I wanted to secure overall victory in the Mountain Bike League Austria, I had to stay ahead of Martin. But I had to give it my all in the final sprint. It was a really tough race. I fought from the first to the last meter," explained a completely exhausted Markt at the finish: "For me, the title is the perfect end to a brilliant season," said Markt. The same can be said of his compatriot Max Foidl, who also secured overall victory in his age group in the Austrian Mountain Bike League with his second Saalfelden victory in the U23 category.
While the men's race was extremely close, the strong Ukrainian World Cup rider Yana Belomoina celebrated a commanding victory in the elite women's race with a lead of over four minutes ahead of the Czech Jitka Skarnitzlova and the German Lena Putz.

Big performance for the very youngest
 
The next generation of bikers also made a big appearance on Sunday as part of the Biketember Festival. At the SCOTT Junior Trophy at the Ritzensee in Saalfelden, 85 children and youngsters between the ages of three and 16 proved that they are in no way inferior to their role models when it comes to action on the varied circuit.

The Biketember Festival opens the autumn season for mountain bikers in Saalfelden Leogang and is also the crowning glory of a summer of events that began with the "Out of Bounds" festival in June, explains Marco Pointner, Managing Director of Saalfelden Leogang Touristik: "Whether young or old, amateur or professional, the diversity is what makes the Biketember Festival so special. The Biketember Festival heralds the start of the fall season. The Bikepark Leogang is still open for downhillers until mid-October."