There’s more than one way to win a Yak as the saying goes, or something like that anyway!
Well, we don’t actually mean win a Yak or even win a Yak over as what would you do with one anyway? You’d have to live above 3500m for starters.
What we actually mean is there is more than 1 way to be a winner if you enter Yak Attack, the world’s highest mountain bike race.
The first way is to obviously win the race, but easier said then done. Over 14 editions there have only been 6 male winners, with Cory Wallace of Canada and Ajay Pandit Chhetri of Nepal sharing 5 victories a piece out of 10 of those 14 races. But with Cory possibly tied up at the Wembo 24hr champs this year and Ajay seemingly retired from racing, we could be looking at a 7th Yak Attack champion. The women’s category has been slightly more contested over the years but with Usha Khanal already expressing an interest in the ’23 event and having just been selected to represent Nepal at the UCI World Cycling Championship, she may be looking at 2 years on the bounce!
You don’t have to win it overall though to be a winner. You could win a stage. There are 8 to chose from this year
- Stage 1 30km low altitude XC circuit
- Stage 2 60km and 2900m ascent – harder even than it sounds
- Stage 3 36km entering altitude
- Stage 4 A multi loop XC race at 3500m above sea level, lung buster
- Stage 5 Just 16km but you are finishing at 4450m altitude
- Stage 6 5km up, 23km down. Easy right? This is the stage for the high altitude junkies, peaking out at 5416m!
- Stage 7 35km with what some describe as 8km of the best singletrack descent they’ve ever ridden
- Stage 8 is normally like the last day of the TDF, but if it’s tight at the top, let the battle continue.
More details of the stages can be found here – Yak Attack website
Included in 3 of those stages are 3 timed enduro sections so if downhill is your specialty then you could win by becoming the 2023 Yak Attack enduro champion. You’ll get your very own trophy for that one! Speaking of which, if you beat the time of 20mins 30 seconds for the world’s highest enduro section, starting from Thorong La at 5416m, we will give you your entry fee back. It’s not that we’re confident you won’t beat it, we’re just nice!
Speaking of which, again, if you can beat 3 hours 58 minutes and 40 seconds for stage 2 we’ll give you your entry fee back. We’re doubly nice. Winner winner dal bhat dinner!!
And who knows, if we can find a sponsor, you may even win some prize money for any of the above accomplishments. No promises on that though as sponsors are harder to find than fresh fruit at Thorong Phedi.
Lastly but not leastly (is leastly even a word? If not it should be)
You can be a double winner and a super hero in everybody’s eyes. You can do something good and get something good. Mountain Biking Worldwide is supporting 3 charities for 2023
If you use your participation in Yak Attack to raise over US$300 for 1 of the above charities, we’ll give to a 5% discount off your entry fee. Win number 1.
But even better than that, if you end up being the highest fund raiser overall we will GIVE you 2 free return tickets to Sri Lanka, from either UK, France, Germany, Australia or Japan courtesy of SriLankan Airlines
BIG WINNER!!!
Imagine that, free flights, basking on a tropical beach, feeling like….. no, actually being a super hero and knowing the world is a better place because of your actions
“Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.” – Dalai Lama
