Riders from around the region gathered in Hinton on Saturday for the second annual Beaver Bike Fest, along with about 200 spectators who came out to watch the display of mountain biking talent.

The bulk of the participants came from Hinton but organizer Stephen Hanus said the event attracted riders from outside the immediate area, as well.

“We had a couple guys from Jasper show and some families show up as well, and some guys from Grande Cache, so that was nice,” he said. “It was certainly a regional-type event.”

The annual festival features a variety of events for all ages and ability levels, from a downhill race to a technical skills competition to the highly popular Dirt Jump Jam.

New this year to the festival were two events: a cross-country poker rally and a foot-down competition in which participants must ride simultaneously in an ever-shrinking square area without letting their feet leave the pedals and touch the ground.

But it was the Dirt Jump Jam that remained the “fan favourite,” Hanus noted, due to the big air and spectacular moves on display.

“We did some work on the dirt jumps this year and we increased the size by about a foot on the largest jumps and that resulted in a lot bigger air this time. It allowed for some amazing, amazing tricks,” he said. “We had people doing the ‘Superman’ which is really difficult and the other one is called the ‘cliff hanger’ where the only part of the body that is touching the bike is the feet on the handlebars,”

An example of the latter trick can be seen on the front page of this edition of the Fitzhugh being executed by Lindsay Wiebe. The stunt helped him earn the overall title of “Bike Fest Champion of the World” on the male side while Darian Cripps took the title in the female category. Those awards are based on competitors’ performances across all the competitions in the festival.

Jasper’s Shawn Gramsma, meanwhile, took second place in the Dirt Jump Jam and won the foot-down competition.

Originally set to take place in June, the festival had to be delayed due to heavy rains at that time which made for nasty riding conditions. And while Hanus said there’s typically more “energy and excitement in the springtime” as riders haul their bikes out of storage and gear up for the upcoming season, holding the event at this time of year came with some advantages too.

“It was definitely a lot of fun doing it in September,” he said. “It was like a year-in-review or a year-ending type of event. It was nice to end with a big bang.”

Hanus said he’s not certain when – or even if – the festival will be held again next year but members of the Hinton Mountain Bike Association (of which he is the president) would love to see it continue in 2012.

“We’d like to, but it’s definitely volunteer-dependent,” Hanus said. “We’re always in need of good people who are dedicated and that’s how this type of event is possible. It’s purely driven by volunteers.”