Yukon mountain bike club wins $10K for Carcross trails

Yukon's Contagious Mountain Bike Club has won $10,000 from Mountain Equipment Co-op.The club broughtin 6,551votes in the Co-op's "Dirt Search Contest,"beating out clubs in Whistler,Squamishand North Vancouver.

The bike club is giving the money to theCarcrossTagishFirst Nation to work on its "Singletrack to Success" project, to enhance biking and hiking trails in the area.

Jane Koepke, who has been instrumental in developing the area's bike trails, says the money is welcome.

"With that donation to the Carcross S to S project, there will be upgrades made to the network on Montana Mountain, so a combination of new construction and upgrading to make that mountain more appealing than ever for mountain bikers and hikers, and S to S is just incredibly grateful for that generosity and that really amazing gesture."

As well, the bike club will get an additional $2,000, pledged by the Yukon Energy Corporation.

"Outside" magazine and a British mountain biking magazine have both touted the Carcross area's mountain bike trails as being world class.