Shane Cuthbertson, A Brief History
Written By: Mitch Brown
NEW 2019 Event By Shane : Red Bull Outliers!
An urban Endurocross showdown in Calgary Alberta is just 2 short days away, hosting both professional & amateur racers from across North America. Past years saw some world stars such as Cody Webb, Taddy Blazusiak, Colton Haaker, Geoff Aaron, Trystan Hart, Kyle Redmond, Cory Graffunder. This Year 264 riders will battle over a 2-day event on the extreme endurocross course looking over the downtown core.
But how did such an amazing event make its home in Calgary?
Red Bull Rocks and Logs, was designed and created by Shane Cuthbertson, a local Alberta boy who is no stranger to the world of extreme enduro. A veteran pro racer of over 20 years, Shane has seen the likes of Red Bull Romaniacs (an event that is peak in crazy factor) Red Bull Erzberg Rodeo and the FIM ISDE, International Six Day Enduro that hosts hundreds of top world teams from across the globe to compete for “World Gold Status” of the best of the best on a motorcycle.
It takes pure dedication and passion to race a motorcycle straight for 8 hours a day, for 6 straight days at insanely high speeds across an unknown land and bring home gold, which Shane did at the 88th annual FIM ISDE.
Shanes experiences include but not limited to championship wins in the British Columbia and Alberta offroad series, as well as battling it out at AMA Endurocross in the US for GNCC, and even going overseas for extreme enduros Europe has to offer.
Riding in the very unique lands with the rich history of dinosaurs that once roamed about.
However, many do not know of Shanes homegrown events he co-created such as the 2 year run of the Xtinction Hard Enduro, also sponsored by Red Bull.
xtinction hard enduro mitch brown photo
XTINCTION HARD ENDURO
With the help of Shanes friends, The Corner Grass crew hosted in the badlands of Alberta, an event that drew such famous riders as Graham Jarvis, Kyle Redmond, Cory Graffunder and many other top professionals from across North America to battle it out on dinosaur bones and hoodoos. Riding in the very unique lands with the rich history of dinosaurs that once roamed about, racers would test their skills on vertical climbs and treacherous conditions with slick rock and sidehills that made you not want to look down.
This unique event once again raised the bar for Hard Enduro in Alberta and Canada.
If you were there in the desert and experienced the near tornado storm and winds that almost wiped out the entire camp at 2 AM in the morning the day before the main event, you have truly experienced the crazy and unpredictable weather of Alberta, Canada. Expect the unexpected with Alberta’s weather, and ALWAYS, drop the pit tent and put away the awning before you leave camp or it will end up in the next province.
CORNER GRASS – “Build it and they will come”
After being part of the Romaniacs hard enduros, Shane brought what he saw across the oceans back to Alberta to show his friends. Together, Shane and his friends co-created Corner Grass , held WAY east of Calgary Alberta, the event started over 10 years ago in the small Hamlet of Compeer Alberta.
Population no more than 15 people, but it still had a bar, motel and town hall, and yes, you could see your dog run away for 5 days, and actually see the curvature of the earth.
The CG boys may have had a few too many beers by the fire thinking of new ways to challenge racers, but the obstacles they dreamt of and created started
to build some of the best offroad racers in Canada.
During the event racers actually crossed into another province while on the course by riding across the family’s old crop field, once used for wheat, now for dirt bikes tilling the land in a new way racing for the podium.
This truly was an Albertan race if there ever was one. You would go from 1st gear to 6th in a moments notice (if you were so lucky to have a 6th), reaching speeds of over 130km/h across the prairie, this speed actually was quite slow to the former 24 Hour Numb Bum Ice racer who went over 180km/h on a regular basis in the Canadian winters. Shane and his Corner Grass Team also enjoyed racing on the ice in the cold depths of winter, on their Husabergs with tires that resembled a chainsaw. Ask them about snotsicles frozen to their ear, that is Numb Bum.
You must watch your footpegs at CG, the hay bails were like a game of sinkers and floaters at MXC Elimination Challenge, some were light, others waterlogged and would pitch you out the front door faster than you could think of the disappointment of yourself, thanks Ken.
The grass track and endurocross event brought racers from across Canada and North America.
Build it and they will come was the mentality, it worked, just like the movie. Stands were filled with fans the seats were front and centre to watch the carnage as racers battled it out until they left for the grass track once more for another lap across the farmers’ fields.
Riders flocked to experience their first taste of “Endurocross” and the mind-bending grass track with “snails” that would make you think you were going to be involved in a head-on collision every corner with 150 other yahoos racing around you, it truly looked amazing and a synchronized heaven.
If you were lucky you would be rolling out of the town hall in
the middle of truck tires you had just won.
Obstacle sections were VERY new to racers that usually only saw mountains and trees with the odd log at waist height, but not 10 telephone poles in a row like a wagon wheel, with the heat of the sun bringing the creosote to the outside, talk about slick. 2 story tall tires from quarry loaders welcomed you in year 2 and 3 of Corner Grass. Endless rock pits and concrete culverts that would shear off your KTM exhaust flange when a lapse of judgment struck.
The CG boys may have had a few too many beers by the fire thinking of new ways to challenge racers, but the obstacles they dreamt of and created started to build some of the best offroad racers in Canada.
Corner Grass had 4 years of amazing racing & development, it truly was an epic achievement and brought new racers to experience and bragging rights that sent videos across the world showing how cool racing in Alberta and Canada is and how awesome the parties were, if you were lucky you would be rolling out of the town hall in the middle of truck tires you had just won holding the sponsored Jack Daniels and Rockstar energy drink.
Corner Grass Reborn
CG now lives on in southern Alberta in a small town called Brooks, ran by another veteran racer David French. The event is a blast, sometimes with a 100-yard skag pit in the middle of the still challenging and fun Grass Track Endurocross course. Alberta’s weather is predictable in a way, in a sense that it is always unpredictable. If you do not like the weather in Alberta, wait 5 minutes and it will change they say, like clockwork every day it’s the truth.
Afterward, families head to the rodeo and carnival to party with cowboy boots and locals, it is a great relaxing weekend put on by A & E Racing & Marine.
2018 ROCKS AND LOGS IS HERE
The event set for June 23/24 in Calgary Alberta and has a brand new track design created by Shane Cuthbertson and his many volunteers, friends, family and workers that help create the world-class course for amateurs and pros who attend from across North America and the world.
Shane’s crew are close friends who race themselves, every year the builders of Rocks and Logs invite new volunteers who want to get right in the heart of the action and build days, learning the ins and outs of what it takes to create an epic endurocross track.
Build days are fun, full of laughs and new on the fly ideas created during the build until the final track map is released just weeks before the event.
2018 Rocks and Logs
The Rocks and Logs course is created to be both challenging for the Pros, fun for new riders yet with carnage everywhere for the spectators, yet not too intimidating for the amateurs who want to try their hand at Red Bull Rocks and Logs.
2018s event has a special invite of Manuel Lettenbichler of Germany and Kyle Redmond USA heading to Calgary to bump bars with the best Canada has to offer in the Pro Categories.
Trystan Hart will be absent from the Pro class as he is said to be focusing on the AMA West Kenda SRT Harescramble Series, Hart has been representing Canada full force winning or being in the top 3 of almost every event he has entered for the past 2 years abroad. He currently brought home 2nd place at the Silver Mountain Xtreme Challenge, Stix & Stones Hard Enduro in Kellogg, ID.
Women’s Expert will be missing AMA Endurocross Champion Shelby Turner as she is recovering from a crash early in the season that took her out from Canadian Women’s Motocross Nationals. So far in women’s, it is confirmed that Melissa Harten, Lexi Pechout, Jannie Devin Lamontagne and Kristen Nicole will line up to battle, previous years saw Tarah Gieger from USA come up to challenge the top girls in Canadian Offroad.
We are so proud to call Shane Cuthbertson one of our own, bump shoulders and share a few beers with such a legend in the offroad world for Alberta & Canada.
Come down to Rocks and Logs 2018 and shake hands with one of the best offroad riders in the world while enjoying the days events, be part of our Hard Enduro History in Canada.
rocks and logs 2018 course preview Calgary Alberta
2009 Red Bull Romanaics RESULTS
https://www.redbullromaniacs.com/results/2009/day4/official-overall/
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