Downhill World Champions Are Coming to Red Bull Tennessee National at Windrock Bike Park This Weekend
And the park's owner, Aaron Gwin, says he is planning to race, too
Windrock Bike Park will host the 2025 Red Bull Tennessee National this weekend, March 28-30, 2025 in Oliver Springs, Tennessee. This year’s event will feature a full weekend of world-class UCI C1 level racing and aims to build on its storied history of fostering the growth of downhill racing in North America. This year’s race course will include even further additions and promises to be an exciting race for both riders and spectators alike.
Five-time World Cup Overall Champion, Aaron Gwin has owned Windrock Bike Park since 2023. “I’m really excited to be expanding on the legacy of the Tennessee National with Red Bull joining as title sponsor of the event for 2025. Red Bull has been an awesome partner of mine and the Windrock Bike Park for many years. We both share a vision and passion for the continued growth of downhill racing here in the USA and I’m thankful to have their support at this event moving forward. Our team has already been hard at work to make this year’s race a great event for all levels of riders and an opportunity for our nation’s best to prepare for the World Cup season ahead. I’ve got some cool course changes/upgrades in mind for this year’s event. We’ll also be sharing some exciting news on further event additions in the upcoming months. Thank you everyone for your continued support of this event and the Windrock Bike Park. I’m looking forward to making this year’s race our best one yet.” -Aaron Gwin
We phoned Aaron today (Wednesday, March 26th) to see how things are going. Aaron told us he’s busy getting ready for this weekend’s event. Aaron told us that he recently had surgery on his hand, and he’s still recovering from the surgery, so he’s not sure how well he’ll do, but he is planning to race this weekend.
Aaron Gwin
Last year, Gwin placed second in the Elite Men’s class at the U.S. National Downhill Championships, losing by 0.43 seconds to the winner, Austin Dooley. However, Asa Vermette, who was racing in the Pro/Cat 1 Junior 17-18 class posted the fastest time of the day, beating Dooley’s time by more than a second, and according to the rulebook, Asa Vermette won the title of the 2024 Elite National Champion. Here’s the story about that race and Vermette’s win of the Elite Men’s title from USA Cycling:
We expected that Asa Vermette would be the guy to beat this year, but it won’t be easy. Some of the world’s top downhill racers are planning on coming, too. They include the 2024 Downhill World Champion, Loris Vergier; World Cup star Troy Brosnan; two-time UCI Downhill World Champion Myriam Nicole; and two-time World Cup champion Amaury Pierron (https://mbaction.com/2inside-the-pros-bikes-amaury-pierron-and-his-commencal-supreme-downhill-bike-setup/).
Online registration was originally scheduled to close Monday night, March 24th, but Gwin told us they extended it by one day, so the online registration actually closed Tuesday night, March 25th.
Here’s the link to more information about the event: https://www.bikereg.com/redbull-tennessee-national
