Hard as a rock 10

We are rapidly approaching one of the most anticipated events of the year – TARE CA PIATRA. Now in its 10th edition, the festival takes place on August 22-23, in Piatra-Neamț. Given that we are having an anniversary edition, we are celebrating properly and adding a Cross-Country event to the festival.

So, this time, Tare ca Piatra is putting 6 fronts on the line: Downhill, Cross-Country, Skate, Roller, BMX and Streetball, plus a super anniversary party.

Registration is done on the event website, where we offer Early Bird packages – valid until 20.08, which offer you reduced registration fees for all events. Online registrations are mandatory, but to validate Early Bird packages, payment of the fee for each individual event must be made in advance, by bank transfer, to the account of the Ileana Foundation – organizer Tare ca Piatra.

Also, all minor competitors will have to present themselves on the day of the competition with the “Agreement for Minors”, completed and signed by one of the parents/legal guardians. It is NOT necessary to legalize the agreement at a notary. The agreement for minors can be downloaded from the website from the registration form.

Regarding the XC competition, it has 2 events: Hobby and Expert. The registration categories for Hobby are Children (<14 years old), Juniors (<18 years old) and Seniors (>18 years old), and for Expert we have Juniors (<18 years old) and Seniors (>18 years old).

The cross-country competition route covers the Cozla and Cârlomanul Mountains, is approximately 13 km for the Hobby race, 24.2 km for the Expert and has a difference in level of 641m, the terrain being made up of a paved road with cubic stones, a forest road, paths and rough terrain.

The START will be in the city center, from the Curtea Domnească Passage. Shortly after (after 1km), next to the Zoo, the climbing portion of the route begins, towards the Outlaws' Huts, up to the Cozla Plateau (the peak of Cozla Mountain). We continue towards the new slope, after which there is a long descent, which offers a spectacular view of the entire city, Bâtca Doamnei Lake and the surrounding mountains, which will make all the effort worthwhile. At the end, there is a rather demanding technical portion, designed to differentiate the participants.

The entire route will be signposted (direction, difficulty and warning/anticipation signs) and marked with tape and paint.

Hydration points, first aid and service points, and 3 check-points will also be located.

The undisputed view that will accompany you throughout the route includes: Cozla Mountain, Cârlomanul Mountain, Pietricica Mountain, Cernegura Mountain, the city of Piatra-Neamț, Bâtca Doamnei Lake, Bistrița River, the ruins of the Dacian fortress Petrodava and Ceahlău Mountain + Toaca Peak on the horizon.

Moving on to the DH competition, the route is located on Cozla Mountain, has a length of approximately 2km, a difficulty from medium to hard, being quite approachable due to the presence of bypass routes for the difficult elements. There will be changes and improvements to the route, and the timing will be done by the people at www.cronometraj.ro. The categories for the downhill event are Juniors (<18 years old), Seniors (>18 years old), Masters (>30 years old) and Hard Tail.

The number of riders from the last edition was 129, but for this edition we estimate a higher figure.

We have had confirmations of participation for a very long time, from all over the country, from loyal Tare ca Piatra riders who have not missed any edition, but we also have newcomers, and an increasingly numerous female presence, and for several competitors, we have the honor of being the first competition they participate in.
Among the official confirmations, we include: Evo Bikes Team, DK Bike Team, DirtBike Team, Freerider (Filip Ciurel), Bistritz Bike Shop Team, Veloteca & friends, the Kingpinshop Team (Victor Groza & crew), the Burn (Kinda Geza) and Funride (Sebastian Grosu) riders, permanently present on our podiums, in the Junior categories – recently Seniors (Remus Bonta), and HardTail (Petru Vereștiuc) + many others.

The Skate, Roller and BMX events will be held in the municipal Skatepark, which will be located in the city center, in Curtea Domnească Square. Also, the skatepark will be completely renovated and new elements will be added to it.

The Streetball competition will take place on the Petru Rareș National College field, which will be specially arranged.

As new information emerges, it will be published, both on the official Tare ca Piatra page (https://www.facebook.com/tarecapiatra.neamt), on the Facebook event page (https://www.facebook.com/events/1610005772605768/) and on our website – FAQs section (www.tarecapiatra.org).

Let's shake the mountains once again, on a decade of Tare ca Piatra!