In memory of Richard Juryn

Hundreds of people will gather in Inter River Park on Saturday to bring one mountain biker’s dream to reality.

Richard Juryn died after his kayak overturned in rough water last October, but his spirit will live on in the trail that will bear his name, says Robin Harvey of the North Shore Mountain Biking Association.

“I think he’d be quite impressed we got it done so fast,” Harvey said. “I like to think we all had Richard looking over our shoulders while we were sitting at those meetings.”

Before Juryn died, the organizer of the Whistler Mountain Bike Festival and Crankworx told anyone who would listen about his vision for a low-intensity bike trail on the North Shore. Inspired by multi-use trails in Whistler and Scotland, Juryn spent years on his idea but it was left unfinished at his passing.

“(Juryn) realized that what was sort of missing on the North Shore was a flatter, more rolling kind of trail, a trail that was more for families,” said District of North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton.

The Richard Juryn Memorial Trail will accomplish what Juryn had hoped for, Walton said. Although portions of the trail were built while Juryn was still alive, the pathways are not clearly marked, he said.

“It’s never been a good trail,” Walton said. “Hopefully this will encourage more people to do longer rides.”

The plan for the four-kilometre trail came together relatively quickly. Juryn had become friends with so many local mountain bikers and local government representatives that they worked hard to finish his trail.

“We were all disturbed and upset by what happened to him so we all had the motivation and the desire to see this happen,” Harvey said. “When I came out of the meeting I was a little overwhelmed, I had to go for a walk ... (the trail) came together so quickly.”

The mountain biking community played a major role by raising more than $30,000 to build a trail in Juryn’s honour. Now they’re willing to donate their labour.

So far, more than 200 volunteers have pre-registered for Saturday’s trail building event but many more are expected to show up. By day’s end Walton is hoping that the trail will be ready to ride.

Saturday’s Richard Juryn Trail Day and Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will feature a festival atmosphere with live entertainment and a barbecue. Walton and Harvey both hope this will be the first of many community trail building days on the North Shore.

“I’m hoping there’s a series of events that come out of it, an annual event to build segments of a trail,” Walton said. “Hopefully we can build a trail, maybe every third weekend in July.”

“This is just the start I think there’s an opportunity for this to expand,” said Harvey.

Sign up for the Richard Juryn Trail Day or donate to the trail fund by visiting www.richardjuryntrails.com.