Dave Wiens Named Mountain Sports Team Director at Western
(June 25, 2012) - Dave Wiens (’90), an inductee of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and a six-time winner of the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race, will return to Western State College of Colorado/Western State Colorado University as the first Mountain Sports Team Director. He will oversee the club sport programs in cycling and skiing.
Dave Wiens
"It's an honor for me to be able to be a part of this new beginning at Western," Wiens said. "I have the opportunity to give back as the school moves into a new and exciting era with a new name, amazing new facilities and new programs.
"While much about Western is new, excellence in mountain sports is part of our heritage. The Mountain Sports Team will be built on the foundation that has been established by a long list of Mountaineer mountain sports athletes whose accomplishments are part of the history and legacy of Western."
Wiens will oversee the operations for the Western Mountain Bike Team, the Free-ride Ski Team, the Skiercross and Boardercross Teams and the Nordic Ski Team. He will also be involved in recruiting, fundraising and budgeting for the program and will coordinate interaction between the teams in regards to facility and recreational land usage throughout the Gunnison Valley.
Under Weins, the Mountain Sports Team is expected to build on its recent success in the gravity and endurance mountain biking and the free-ride and Nordic skiing programs.
"I'm motivated to work with the two main pieces we have in place now, the mountain bike team and the ski team, and continue to build on what is already in place and has moved both of these teams forward during the last few years,” Wiens said. "Additionally, I think that there are some yet-to-be explored opportunities out there which could fit nicely into the Mountain Sports Team program."
Possible expansion opportunities include snowboarding, cyclocross and road cycling, ski mountaineering, trail running and whitewater kayaking. The Mountain Sports teams will have access to some of the top recreational areas in the nation with close proximity to Hartman Rocks and Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
Wiens started on the professional circuit in 1988 racing for Diamondback Bicycles and retired from professional cycling in 2004. In his professional career, he won two World Cup series races, finished third in a World Cup final and won the U.S. Mountain Biking National Championships twice. Wiens won six consecutive Leadville 100 races and became the first cyclist to break the seven-hour mark in 2007.
Founded in 1901, Western is a public, liberal arts college located in Gunnison, Colo. With an enrollment of 2,300 taught by 120 faculty members, Western offers bachelors of arts degrees in 22 areas of study, a bachelor of fine arts, master of arts in education and a master of fine arts in creative writing. Governor John Hickenlooper signed HB 1331 on Monday, June 4, 2012 officially changing Western’s name to Western State Colorado University. The name change will take effect on August 1, 2012.
