WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — Three years after the inaugural race, the U.S. Open Fat Bike Beach Championship has been named as a Top-20 Festival & Event by the Southeast Tourism Society.
The 4th annual U.S. Open Fat Bike Beach Championship will be held March 16-18 in Wrightsville Beach, with all activities and races based on the beachside of Blockade Runner Beach Resort.
“Fat bike beach racing in the one-mile oval format is an exciting sport for both athletes and spectators,” said race chairman Shawn Spencer. “The number of entries, the fitness level of the athletes, and the crowd size on the beach has improved every year.”
A fat bike is an off-road bicycle with over-sized tires, designed for low ground pressure to allow riding on soft unstable terrain, such as snow, sand and mud.
This year’s competition is changing from specified distance to timed events. The events include a one-hour event, a one-hour and 30-minute contest and a two-hour competition. New to the schedule this year is a children’s fat bike beach race and skid-contest.
The 2018 U.S. Open Fat Bike Beach Championship will benefit the Wrightsville Beach Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving public parks and amenities for residents and the island’s hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
Participants can register online for this year’s race. There is no registration fee for children’s activities and no admission charge for spectators.
