The PROPAIN Rookies Cup has been an integral part of the GlemmRide in Saalbach Hinterglemm, Austria, for many years. Once again, the festival provided the perfect setting and over 300 participants enjoyed a memorable weekend.

Saalbach Hinterglemm hosted the now legendary GlemmRide for the eighth time. Cycling enthusiasts from near and far made the pilgrimage to the mountain bike metropolis for this event. In addition to the PROPAIN Rookies Cup, the programme also included the spectacular Masters of Dirt Show and countless side events such as pump track sessions, manual challenges, bike pulling, yoga, arm wrestling and much more.

The Expo was once again well-filled and the pedestrian zone was transformed into a cool mile of exhibitors with countless reasons to get stuck in somewhere. But most people actually come to Saalbach Hinterglemm to get on their bikes and ride one of the many trails. And it was precisely here that it became clear why the organisers had invited visitors to the bike Eldorado. A four-digit number of metres in altitude is available to put a big grin on your face on trails of all levels of difficulty.

But there was also plenty of variety besides mountain biking. Be it culinary delights in the many neighbouring restaurants or the stage area, where DJs played during the day and various bands went full throttle in the evening. Of course, if you wanted a quiet place to stay, you probably shouldn't have chosen a hotel room in the town centre, but at least the paddocks were far enough away to get enough sleep before the race. Unfortunately, the weather didn't quite play along on Friday, but compared to other parts of Austria, we could be quite satisfied with the short spells of rain.

The Rookies Cup participants started on Friday with the track walk, whereby the official bike park course could already be ridden beforehand. Some new sections were added especially for the race, but the pro line was basically similar to previous years. The wet conditions made it appear very challenging, but fortunately it wasn't to stay that wet.

Saturday started dry, so the surface slowly but steadily became grippier. As a result, the participants had to adjust to higher and higher speeds, which meant that the changing conditions were definitely a difficult task. The biggest challenge for a good placing was probably the level of the individual travellers themselves. Participants from 24 nations lined up at the start line, including some of Europe's greatest young talents. The high level of participation in the girls' category was once again very pleasing, with 25 participants in the U17/U19 and U13/U15 classes. The class with the highest number of participants was the Boys U15 with over 90 young racers.

On Sunday, the weather was finally completely summery, which in particular ensured a large influx of spectators. As always, the atmosphere in the finish area was exuberant, as siblings, parents and friends were somehow particularly excited and celebrated the riders as if they were World Cup pros. And indeed, some of them had a similar style of skiing as well as similar reactions after crossing the finish line.

In the end, Rosa Zierl (AUT - Cube Next Generation) once again set the fastest time of all the female participants. The sixteen-year-old from Innsbruck needed a time of 3:37.280 for the 2.3-kilometre track, giving her an impressive win by around 17 seconds.

Oliver Vogl (AUT- KEEN MOMENTUM) was the fastest of all the male starters on the day, winning the Open Junior U19 class with a time of 3:18.517 minutes. But similarly fast was Reid Simpson (GBR) from the Boys U15 class, who was just over a second off the best time of the day with 3:19.656 minutes.

To summarise, Saalbach Hinterglemm is definitely worth a trip to the GlemmRide, but can also definitely provide any MTB enthusiast with an impressive time away from this festival. The other results can be found here: