Alabama GOAL Fest will be bursting on to the scenes for the first time in the Auburn and Opelika area April 12, 13 and 14. The goal behind Alabama GOAL Fest is to encourage the community to "get out and live."
By hosting a jam-packed weekend full of trail races at Chewacla, high-speed bike races in downtown Opelika, all-day expos, live music, food and so much more, the event aims to liven the community by celebrating a healthy outdoor lifestyle.
With events throughout the weekend being sponsored by CAMP (Central Alabama Mountain Pedalers), Auburn Bike Committee, The Railyard, the City of Auburn and Opelika, Auburn University and more, GOAL Fest will be a major collaborative effort.
"The great thing about it is that there are so many different organizations and groups that are joining in to do this," Fukai said.
Though the weekend promises an array of events for all age levels and all levels of competition, the most exciting to spectate will be the Rail City Criterium at 1 p.m., April 13 in downtown Opelika.
The criterium race is a bike race that has been compared to the NASCAR of cycling events, with high-speed cyclists racing around an already laid out circuit designed for viewer friendliness. The circuit features sharp 90 degree turns, requiring strategy from the competitors and holding potential for collision.
"The intensity from the start to the finish is up really high, just full-throttle. You pretty much just start and never let up," said Grant Chaffin, criterium race participant.
"It's hard to explain the energy and the way that it feels when you're there, but if you've seen one and you go to the next one, you're glued to it the entire time," Chaffin said.
Criterium races are just as high-intensity for the crowd of spectators as they are the competitors.
"People have a great time watching it, that's what a criterium is," said Richard Patton, owner of The Railyard. "This is not something that just bikers or bike enthusiasts can come to, this is something that would be fun for anybody to come and have a good time. It's a competitive, serious race, but it's an amazing, fun thing to be a part of."
While the criterium race is going on, an expo will also be held that showcases local vendors, organizations and natural resource providers that deal with fitness, outdoor activity, and things that promote healthy life style, according to Philip Darden, co-founder of GOAL Fest.
"That event is going to be happening within the race course so you're kind of surrounded by that race energy, then you also have all of these interesting vendors and booths to go and look at," Darden said.
The evening will conclude with an after party at The Railyard beginning at 9:00 p.m., with bands Tedo Stone and Humming House to perform.
Additional events will continue throughout Sunday, April 14.
Darden says in the years coming up, GOAL Fest hopes to expand on the involvement of different organizations that do a variety of different things.
"We want to have ultimate frisbee guys out there, slack lining guys, rock climbers, long boarders, skate boarders, we want to have a huge variety," Darden said. "Anything that you consider outdoor and active, we want to have some sort of something going on with that during GOAL Fest weekend because we want it to be all inclusive."
As the festival continues to grow, so do the visions for what the event can be.
"We're trying to create a destination level event by creating this one large weekend of different competitions from different demos and different events. GOAL Fest is the thing that brought it all together to try to create the large-scale weekend event." said Hiro Fukai, co-founder of GOAL Fest.
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