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Last weekend, (October 10th and 11th) Race for Tara 3 at NorthStar in Tahoe was a tremendous success.

So we flew into Reno, hit the road, and climbed our way up to Northstar resort passing the enormous Lake Tahoe.

This is the 3^rd year running for the Race for Tara.

Tara's number board.

For those who don't know who Tara Llanes is click here  More about Tara

It was the first time the Race4Tara was held at Northstar resort in Tahoe and it turned out to be the biggest and best yet.

The committee responsible for organizing this charitable event, really have accomplished an incredible thing. Congratulations to the entire committee and everyone involved. I feel I can speak for all and say your passion and commitment is sincerely appreciated.

We just heard from Mike Stewart from Giant that just over $15,000 was raised for Tara and her recovery and Tara made a generous donation to the Christopher Reeve-Irvine Research Center.

Brian Bolin, Barbera Llanes and Mike Stewart Hard at work.

Thayne-hard working- Bolin in action

Not only does this race raise thousands of dollars for the Tara Llanes Road to Recovery Fund but this year also for the Reeve Irvine Spinal Research Centre  (who specialize in Spinal Cord Injury research).

Tara very appreciative to have Tania Cusack from Reeve Irvine Research Centre joining in.

Northstar Resort offers more than 160kms of trails for mountain biking and is the largest bike park in Northern California.

Tara pulls up all dusty and stoked after rip down Northstar's signature trail Live Wire

The race course, named Mega DH, as it sounded was a long one. The finish times were anywhere between 10 to 15 minutes.

Brian Safrino flys across the line

Austin Aldrich is on the gas in the pedaling section and takes 3rd.

Riders faced 4 miles of connecting trials, with some open pedally sections, lots of rocks, technical singletrack with drops, wide open high speed singletrack, a mixture of jumps and berms.

Chris Ravina rocking the single crown to 4th place

There was a race course set up for the 4 wheelers too.

Brook Duquesnel 4 wheel bike designer and ripper

Racing started at 8600ft, descending 1800ft to the mid mountain, where most of the action was going on.

Set up at the finish area were the supporting vendors including Troy Lee Designs, Leatt Brace, Thule racks, Shimano, Bicycle Trip SantaCruz, Marin,  Dakine, WTB, Fox protective gear, Norco, and Kali Protectives, all of which were set up and showcasing products.

Fox were showing off a very good looking selection of kit, helmets and protection.

Liette trying the Troy Lee D3 with the Monster Leatt Brace

Colby Solari whips into 8th place

Giant bikes had their enormous race truck and pit enclosure, also a large separate Giant bikes demo set up.

Giant Bike Demo set up

Tara's first glance at her new signature Leatt brace

Specialized had their own pit arrangement as did X-Fusion shocks, also Kirt Vories with his Santa Cruz Syndicate racers.

Kirt Vories having got his team ready and sent them off for their race runs.

I had never expected it to be such a big event. The vibe was unique, I'd say it was more like a celebration. The weather was great, good tunes playing, even the racers were laid back with it being the race season end.

SF Dirt Lab DJ enhanced the good vibe, playing the likes Shadow and RJD2

In addition to the funds raised by race entries, vendors and sponsors. Giant and Giant for Women put in a Pro Purse of $2500 for the fastest racers. Giant bikes and their team make such a huge contribution to this event. Truly inspiring.

Tara off for a ride on the new rig

Sponsors and supporting companies donated product to the raffle. Not just a few shirts and water bottles, the raffle prizes arrived in a huge U-haul van and sold thousand of raffle tickets.

Michelin 120cc 4stroke Pit Bike in the raffle

Too many prizes to list, but here's a quick list:

Raffle sponsor Tomac Bikes

Giant                            2010 Glory DH full bike and other stuff.

Specialized,                  4 Jersey's and 2 FF Helmets

Fox Racing                    3 rampage helmets and 1 Flux helmet, 10 sets Launch Pro pads

Fox Suspension             Float 160 fork

Park Tool                     Repair stand, Tool kit, Pumps, and RFT multi tools

WTB                             $1000 of products

Michelin                       Decaled up 120cc Pit bike and 5 sets of Hot freeride tires

Thule                            Awesome bike rack system

TLD                              D2 helmets and soft goods

Leatt Brace                  Neck Braces

Easton Bell Sports      25pumps, 25at's,10 bellistic helmets,10 havoc HB, havoc wheels,       96   pairs of Giro gloves

Camel back                  8 packs and 36 bottles

Mavic                           Crossmax SX Wheelset

Point1racing                Stems

Jamis                           2 Parker frames

SixSixOne                   Helmets

Shimano                       Saint Brakes

Nutcase helmets         Helmets

This is only half of it.

On Saturday there was a lot to see, as racers practiced the course, Jared Rando led some ride clinics,  Frank Trotter (Team Giant World Cup Mechanic) held a course to wrench like a Pro level mechanic and there was a Jump jam at the 2six jump park.

This guy was boosting big tricks and then later he was throwing lip tricks out of the middle set.

Tyler McCaul speed test

Tyler McCaul

Paul Bas

The evening was upon us and we headed down to the village for food, beer and a NWD10 premiere, then back to the outdoor rink side bar and fire pits where they raffled a few big ticket items including the Giant 00 Glory DH rig.

Bruce Moore has been supporting Race 4 Tara for years by manufacturing the medals. Bruce had purchased a mass of raffle tickets and won a 2010 Giant 00 Glory full DH bike.

The DJ was still playing and night continued outside with, Roller Rinking and Drinking.

Sunday was for racing and raffles.

Sean Tracy bringing it to land through the finish in 9th place

Raffle HQ

Results are as follows.

Pro Women:

Joanna Petterson took 2nd place

Pro Men

Jared Rando was racing and leading riding clinics on Saturday

Kevin Drake spinning his out legs after the finish jump

Full Results click here.

Congratulations to the organizers for such an achievement. We at CCN were very pleased to play a part and join in the fun.

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See you again next year, for sure!!

Show your support:

To donate: Click here

Also be sure to click here and visit the sponsors Link to all sponsors