Whitehorse mountain bike park finished

Mountain bike riders in Whitehorse now have a new place to hone their skills, as construction of a new park has been completed.

A dirt park was built for bikes last year near the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre, but volunteers have recently added challenging jumps, ramps, boardwalks and other features that are made of wood.

Those features are all aimed at letting mountain bikers — from rookies to experts — develop their technical skills, said Kenton Matthews of Hoots Inc., a Vancouver-based company that oversaw construction of the Whitehorse bike park.

Matthews said local riders have been testing out each new jump or run as they were built.

"Soon as we leave, they come out of the bushes and want to try it out, which is good because the park got broke in as we were building it," Matthews told CBC News.

"We don't have to worry about, 'Ah, wonder if that's going to work when we leave,' because we know everything's going to work."

Matthews said the project has received a fantastic amount of donated labour and materials, meaning the park was finished ahead of schedule.

"I think it's a pretty good course, you know, I enjoy it a lot," said rider Joe deGraff, who volunteered to build the park.

"I like riding my bike here. It's lot of fun being part of building and constructing of it; overall, a great thing, a very positive thing for the community, I think."

The Contagious Mountain Bike Club took the initiative in building the park, which will officially open later this year. The club will run the park in partnership with the city, according to club officials.