RESULTS: 2017 U.S. National Championships Cat 1 Dual Slalom

The youngsters are fired up about Dual Slalom and so are their slalom-loving parents...or at least the riders who were alive during the hey day of Dual Slalom. The results of Slalom at the 2017 U.S. National Champs of Mountain Biking from Snowshoe, West Virginia, may tell an interesting story about interest in the race format. The age 11-14 Junior Men's class had 21 initial participants (16 moving on to race), the biggest class of the day by far. The other classes had a few participants but the Cat 1 Master Men's 40+ category was the next biggest class. Maybe all the groms have their dad's hand-me-down 26-inch-wheeled bikes or maybe the groms are just frothing to ride and don't care what kind of race they're in. We could see why the 30-39 class is so small because those dads are probably at home, doing their best to survive life with newborns, toddlers and kindergartners. Hopefully in five to ten years, that gang will be at National Champs racing, too.

Fake, half-hearted sociological studies aside, it's awesome to see so many young kids in the start gate! Long live slalom.

Junior X (sorry, we still call it that) which is Cat 1 15-18 and Pro Men and Women compete in Dual Slalom on Friday.

The four non-Pro women racing this weekend were put into one category regardless of age and up-and-coming shredder, Emily Harris took home the National Champion win.