Thursday, September 2, 2010 saw the downhill riders hitting up the Mont Sainte Anne course for their first timed practice. In previous years there was a seeding run to determine the start position of the racers but that has been change recently to even the field and stop riders from performing poorly in their timed run to get earlier start times so that they may ride a less beat up course or in the case of weather to miss the rain. A rider's race position, or seeding, is now based on their UCI points. The timed practice is now just a way for the competitors to compare their speed against the other racers. On the men's side it was Greg Minnaar who nailed the fastest run of the day and Tracy Moseley set the pace for the women.
