MTB youth development: This was the Ghost BIKE Crosscountry Youth Camp 2024

There is no doubt that the Ghost BIKE Crosscountry Youth Camp is one of the best talent centres in the country - and has been since 2003! There is hardly an internationally successful young German rider who has not taken part in at least one camp. Every year after the end of the XC World Cup season, BIKE and Ghost invite children and young people to the BWAZ Lunaris in Sank Englmar. The young racers include the best talents in their age groups. The special thing about the youth camp is that it is accompanied from the first day by the professionals from Ghost. Together with the Ghost Factory Racing Team and the Ghost Junior Team, the young bikers go on tour, hone their riding technique and learn what it means to be successful in cross-country sport.

Age- and performance-appropriate promotion of young talent

Traditionally, the Ghost BIKE Crosscountry Youth Camp runs from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon. On arrival, the participants move into their shared rooms together with their friends and peers. After dinner together, the stars of the event introduce themselves. In addition to the Riders of the Ghost Factory Racing Team Anne Terpstra, Nicole Koller, Finja Lipp, Isla Short and Caroline Bohé team manager Thomas Wickles, World Cup mechanic Uwe Kampe and riding technique coach Oliver Sonntag also took part this year. The camp was once again led and moderated by experienced junior coach Erik Becker with support from Christian Fichtel. BIKE editor Jan Timmermann was responsible for the media coverage.

>> We have already had the pleasure of getting to know Anne Terpstra and Nicole Koller up close and personal.

In order to offer all participants the best possible experience, the first thing on Friday morning was a joint test lap with group categorisation. A short opening race with a mass start helped to divide the young bikers into homogeneous groups. Together with their idols, they rode tours through the autumnal Bavarian Forest, learned a few tricks from the pros in front of the Ghost World Cup truck and practised technical riding tricks on the trail or the nearby pump track under professional supervision.

MTB pros and kids together

Each group was accompanied by the riders of the Ghost Factory Team and the talented youngsters of the Ghost Junior Team in turn during their training sessions. This provided plenty of opportunities to chat to each other on and off the bike. There were also numerous opportunities for dialogue at the evening events. For example, the Ghost World Cup team reported on their season and were on hand to answer questions from the youngsters. Do cross-country stars still have their own role models? When did they start mountain biking? The children and young people showed great interest in the everyday life of athletes. As was their delight at the goodies they brought along. Of course, the camp participants are also the BIKE readers of tomorrow and at a workshop they were able to take an exclusive look behind the scenes of BIKE magazine. How do BIKE tests work? Who takes all the photos in the magazine? Here, too, many burning questions came together.

The young bikers were led on tour by local guides from the local club Sportivo Sankt Englmar. Despite the late date in the year, the Ghost BIKE Crosscountry Youth Camp was once again lucky and benefited from plenty of sunshine. Back at the Bayerwald-Aktiv-Zentrum Lunaris, hungry athletes could look forward to freshly cooked full board from the kitchen. The group accommodation was once again the start and finish area for the final race. Cheered on by the world elite of XC sport, the young racers showed plenty of ambition and delivered a fitting fun race at the end.

>> BIKE has already tested the Ghost Lector Hardtail, the Factory Team's latest workhorse.