
Pine Needle Mountain Bike Festival continuing to grow
Mike Horn counts down the start of the 12th Annual Pine Needle Mountain Bike and Music Festival. (paNow Staff/Nick Nielsen)
Despite the rain and cool winds, 175 cyclists geared up and took ff just behind the Knotty Pine Bistro at Little Red Park on Sunday to take part in the 12th Annual Pine Needle Mountain Bike and Music Festival. With a full six hours on the clock, cyclists could team up in teams of 2-4 people to take turns completing the bike marathon, or they could challenge it themselves as a single rider.
It’s a unique event in the province, and one that organizer Mike Horn thinks Prince Albert should be proud of. There aren’t very many places in the province that have something unique like this, not only having a mountain biking festival in the province, but one that mixes in music as well.
“Anytime you can get this number out for a cycling event in our province, it’s incredible. We’ve been hosting events for a long, long time and the festival really resonates with people because the nice thing about the festival is it attracts everyone. It’s open to all levels and bodies. It’s not an overly advanced course, so anyone can come out and ride a lap and enjoy it. That’s the thing is we want we want anyone to be able to come out and enjoy the sport of mountain biking in our park.”