by Brighton McConnell
The Bell Built Trail Contest awards a $100,000 grant to a park for the purpose of building a gravity mountain bike trail. (Photo courtesy of Bell Helmets)
A Transylvania County landmark was recognized last week on a nationwide level.
Gorges State Park in Sapphire was announced as one of the finalist locations to receive the Bell Built Grant. The park competed against two other applicants in the eastern region of the United States to win funding for a biking trail project within each park. Although Gorges fell short of winning the contest, being featured with other parks on Bell Helmet’s website has helped the park reach national acclaim for being a prime mountain biking location.
The Bell Built Grant is a $100,000 grant meant to spread interest and participation in the sport of mountain biking. In its third year of existence, the grant is being funded by Bell Helmets and the International Mountain Biking Association. With applications from many different state and bike parks, Gorges was awarded one of the nine regional candidate spots for the first stage of voting.
The competition for the grant spanned across the whole nation, with three finalists chosen in each three regions of the United States. Following this, online voters would choose the park they wished to receive the grant in either the East, Central, or West regions. Sponsored by the Friends of Gorges State Park, the local attraction was accompanied by groups in Knoxville, Tennessee and Anniston, Alabama in the Eastern region and finished second in voting to the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club of Knoxville.
If Gorges State Park had won, the money would’ve been put towards building a ‘gravity’ bike trail. These types of trails are for experienced downhill mountain bikers and feature tough components such as jumps, banked turns, and large drops. Described as meant for ‘black diamond/double black diamond level riding’ by the International Mountain Biking Association, Gorges’ proposed project promised to feature Transylvania County’s wonderful waterfalls and steep terrain.
However, the state park fell short of receiving enough votes to win the Eastern region for the bid. Gorges wound up finishing in second place with almost 2000 votes in total and it is unclear whether the park will continue its plans to build a gravity bike trail in the near future.
Voting for the final stage of the Bell Built Grant competition between the three national finalists will begin May 26 and will last until June 4.