GoPro Mountain Games Looking for Amateur ‘Athletes to Watch’
OutdoorHub 05.01.13
The Mountain Games in Vail, the country’s largest adventure sports and music festival, has always offered amateur athletes the opportunity to compete against some of the world’s best cyclists, climbers, runners, paddlers and anglers. This year, the newly crowned GoPro Mountain Games wants to spotlight some of its most compelling non-professional athletes through a new “Athletes to Watch” program. The GoPro Mountain Games is soliciting stories from amateur athletes to share with the public via GoPro Mountain Games’ multiple media channels.
“At the GoPro Mountain Games amateurs have the opportunity to compete and compare their times against an Olympic bronze medalist like Georgia Gould or a world champion kayaker like Eric Jackson,” says Mike Imhof, Sr. VP of Sales & Opperations of the Vail Valley Foundation, which organizes the annual event. “There are some amazing amateur athlete stories amongst our participants and this year we want some of them to share the spotlight with the pros.”
Several amateur athletes have already submitted their stories and have been featured on the GoPro Mountain Games website including kayaker Henry Hyde, who at age 12 has already competed at the event for the past five years. This summer he hopes to land on the podium in the Steep Creek Challenge, the Downriver Sprint and the Pro Freestyle competition.
SUP competitor Skip Brown from Maryland has reported that he has been running rapids, paddling upstream against the current and surfing standing waves, in preparation for June. Even a few four-legged competitors are currently being featured on www.gopromountaingames.com as they prepare for the dock-dog competition.
Athletes are encouraged to share their stories using the “Submit Your Story” button on the GoPro Mountain Games website.
