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XCO Race Track Bike Village Huttwil

Year of construction
since 2022
Total length
4.35km
Height difference
190 vertical meters
Usage
temporary (for competition only)

The Bike Village Huttwil event is the final race of the national ÖKK Bike Revolution XCO race series in 2022-2024. The circuit was designed together with Mathias and Lukas Flückiger. Vast Trails then prepared the applications for the necessary permits and implemented the first stage of the course construction with local construction companies.The result is a modern and attractive cross-country race course that will be continuously developed over the coming years!

#bikevillagehuttwil #xco #racing #sufferloop #jointherevolution #xcoracetrack
Start straight with Elite-Men main race
Entry into Rock Garden descent aka "ÖKK S"
Entry to Stadion Rock Garden
Rock Garden A-Line, mastered by Sina Frei
Rock Garden lower Part with reigning World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
Counter-uphill after Rock Garden
Short descent
Entry to Single Trail Uphill
Heart beat ramp (Uphill Single Trail) with Vital Albin
Hager Uphill
Wyssachen Drop
Uphill leading to steep descent in forest
Uphill leading to steep descent in forest
Off-camber downhill on open field with temporary jump/drop construction
Root section in Huttwilwald
Start straight with Elite-Men main race
Entry into Rock Garden descent aka "ÖKK S"
Entry to Stadion Rock Garden
Rock Garden A-Line, mastered by Sina Frei
Rock Garden lower Part with reigning World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
Counter-uphill after Rock Garden
Short descent
Entry to Single Trail Uphill
Heart beat ramp (Uphill Single Trail) with Vital Albin
Hager Uphill
Wyssachen Drop
Uphill leading to steep descent in forest
Uphill leading to steep descent in forest
Off-camber downhill on open field with temporary jump/drop construction
Root section in Huttwilwald

Bike Village Huttwil x ÖKK Bike Revolution

The Bike Village Huttwil is much more than just a race. Under the umbrella of the ÖKK Bike Revolution, it brings together world-class and hobby sports on a weekend. XCO races with a world-class field of participants (2023, Hors Catégorie), Bike Expo and attractive tours for amateur athletes offer a mountain bike festival for everyone!  The first edition took place from September 23-25, 2022, but was unfortunately characterized by prolonged rainfall, which challenged the course and racers more than they would have liked. However, the bad weather did not prevent a large number of spectators from attending: over 5000 visitors attended the event!

 

Track Layout

Luk and Math Flückiger came to us with the idea of designing a modern and challenging XCO  race course; a track layout in the shape of a clover leaf and attractive for all racers and spectators alike. Situated at the Schwarzenbach National Sports Center, the basic infrastructure for a race is available (parking spaces, catering, sanitary facilities, etc.), which also defines the location. The arena-like topography ensures a good overview and an atmosphere like in a football stadium during a Champions League game. It was very important to plan an interesting mix of trail styles and challenges: the highlight is the steep Rock Garden in the start-finish area, which is close to the spectators. But the numerous forest single trails, steep technical descents, single trail uphills, jumps and banked turns also provide excitement and variety!

 

Temporary useage

As with many other XCO race tracks, this track can only be used temporarily for the event week. The track layout had to be coordinated with existing agricultural and forestry uses and interests, and the consent of the numerous landowners and farmers was also required. New sections were planned which make around 1.2 km of the approximately 4.35 km long race track, which required a building permit outside the construction zone.

Peter Zulauf, OK-President Bike Village Huttwil

With Vast Trails, we have a very competent, reliable and customer-oriented partner on our side. Thanks to their extensive practical experience, we were able to design, plan and build the race track in just 11 months. Without Vast Trails, the realization would not have been possible in this short time – a big thank you to the whole team! Our cooperation continues and we can only recommend the people and services of Vast!

Peter Kopp, Head of Race Course Bike Village Huttwil

It was clear to me from the outset that we needed to bring in outside expertise to create an attractive race track. Both at the planning level and at the implementation level: Vast Trails helped us where we needed it and brought their extensive experience to the project. Thanks to their flexibility and hands-on mentality, we were able to turn the idea into reality within nine months!

Planning process

Based on the track layout, Vast Trails prepared the construction permit application and the necessary documents such as plans, special permits and technical reports. Thanks to the agreement of the numerous landowners and the good and pragmatic cooperation with the lead authority and the examining offices of the Canton of Bern, the project was approved and then implemented within a short space of time. The entire formal process took around 5 months in total.

 

Step-by-step expansion

The aim for the 2022 implementation was to be able to present a continuously rideable racetrack. But that was just the beginning: the track will be expanded over the next two years with further attractive sections and features such as a jump line, banked turns and other technical challenges. Those responsible at Bike Village Huttwil would like to recommend themselves for further races. Maybe we will even see an XCO World Cup here in the future.

 

Track preview with Lukas Flückiger, Marcel Guerrini from the BiXS Performance Race Team and Severin Schindler, project manager (19.09.2022)

Production and edit: Cédric Huguenin

Severin Schindler, Project Manager & Co.Owner Vast Trails

With our roots in cross-country racing, it was an exciting task for us to support this project from the initial idea through to implementation. The short time horizon made the project very challenging and required a great deal of effort from everyone involved. The biggest challenge was the landowner’s commitment: without their consent, the construction of the course and therefore the event would not have been possible!

Year of construction

since 2022

Contractor / Client

Verein Bike Village Huttwil

Vast Services

Conception, Course Design, Formal Planning, Construction

Total length

4.35km

Height difference

190 vertical meters

Level of difficulty

schwarz

Project Partners

ÖKK Bike Revolution
Geotest AG, Zollikofen
Trüssel AG, Huttwil 
Beutler Bautech GmbH, Aarwangen

Spectators 2023

over 8’000 Spectators

Website

www.bikevillagehuttwil.ch

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