This year’s Mountain Sports Festival welcomes mountain unicycling, aka “MUni,” to the mix. Two new events—the Kitsuma Challenge downhill MUni race and the Mountain Unicycling Trials Demonstration—will debut on Saturday. photo by Kent Priestley Both were organized by Asheville resident Adam Masters, a fierce devotee of the fringe sport who owns a half-dozen trail unicycles—probably … Read more
Coordinating 1,500 competitors at the Mountain Sports Festival may seem a bit like herding cats, but the momentum of the event—plus a tight-knit community of nationwide and regional athletes—makes the task a whole lot easier. James Trombly, a first-time event host for Diamond Brand’s “Against the Flow” race—where boaters, as the title suggests, fight their … Read more
With the possible exception of mountain unicycling, most outdoor sports look pretty damn cool. What’s not awesome about dangling from an overhang by your fingertips, or busting out a dark slide. But—let’s be honest here—it’s not as cool as it could be, is it? You know what all this danger calls for? A soundtrack. Whole … Read more
If you’re still haunted by memories of grade-school gym class, reading the Mountain Sports Festival’s printed roster of kids’ programs might seem like a potential nightmare. The long page is packed with dozens of youth activities. Yet the list is largely free of the usual suspects: No dodge ball competition, for instance; no cutthroat baseball … Read more
For members of the Western North Carolina Disc Golf Club, Saturday, May 5, may well be the sweetest day in the organization’s history. Man with a plan: James Nichols, designer of the Richmond Hill disc golf course. photo by Sam Wardle At 8 a.m., both professional and amateur disc golfers from across the country will … Read more
