Where Snow Meets the Black Sea
Rize Turns the SNX World Championship Into a Winter Spectacle on the Black Sea
On the edge of Türkiye’s Black Sea coast, where mountains rise sharply from the shoreline, and clouds drift low over endless forests, winter arrived with engines roaring.
In Rize’s high-altitude Handüzü Plateau, the 2026 FIM Snowcross World Championship opened its season not with silence, but with the thunder of snowmobiles, the echo of cheers across the valley, and a start line moment of quiet prayer before riders launched themselves into one of the most demanding snowcross tracks on the global circuit.
For two back-to-back rounds between January 31 and February 4, the world’s best snowcross riders raced on a purpose-built track carved into deep snow at 1,800 meters above sea level—a venue that tested skill, nerve, and resilience in conditions that shifted from crisp sunshine to near-whiteout blizzards within hours.
When Winter Shows Its Teeth
Round One delivered cinematic racing. Snowmobiles flew off sculpted jumps, machines seemed to hover midair before slamming back into the course, and riders threaded narrow turns at full throttle. One rider was overheard laughing into the camera about the cold—"This is unreal."
Then came Round Two. Heavy snowfall reshaped the circuit overnight. Visibility dropped, the surface softened and rutted, and crashes sent sleds tumbling beyond the barriers. One rider shared footage of a dramatic airborne crash on social media with the caption, “Yes, that's me doing Superman off the start line 🙈🤘🏼” backed by the soundtrack I Can Fly—proof that for these riders, the chaos of the elements is never an obstacle; it’s simply the most spectacular part of the show.
This is SNX at its most raw: speed, risk, control—and weather that refuses to cooperate.
On the Podium: The First Two Rounds in Rize
Round 1 – Rize (31 January – 1 February 2026)
Men’s Podium
🥇 Olle Sahlström (Sweden)
🥈 Aki Pihlaja (Finland)
🥉 Topi Rinne (Finland)
Women’s Podium
🥇 Wilma Jonsson (Sweden)
🥈 Elise Jonsson (Sweden)
🥉 Hilda Öhman (Sweden)
Round 2 – Rize (3–4 February 2026)
Men’s Podium
🥇 Aki Pihlaja (Finland)
🥈 Aki Pesonen (Finland)
🥉 Topi Posti (Finland)
Women’s Podium
🥇 Wilma Jonsson (Sweden)
🥈 Hilda Öhman (Sweden)
🥉 Tilde Karelius (Sweden)
As the podium moments unfolded, familiar SNX host Radka Mazáková truly set the stage—having embraced Rize long before the engines even started. By blending the award ceremony with her own warm experiences from the city and the promotional films she helped create, she turned the stage into a living bridge between the global championship and the local spirit.
More Than a Race: Rize Opens Its Doors
Between rounds, the championship stepped off the track and into the city.
Riders and technical crews were taken through Rize’s streets, wandering the Tea Bazaar, tasting the region’s world-famous black tea, and posing for photos in front of the city’s iconic giant tea-glass landmark. In nearby orchards, riders picked citrus fruit, discovering a softer side of a region more often associated with rain and rugged mountains.
At Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, champions met with students, sharing what life on the professional circuit demands—discipline, setbacks, resilience—turning global sport into something personal and attainable for young locals.
Back at Handüzü, the mountain became a community space. Locals arrived in boots and inflatable snow tubes, sometimes with no gear at all, sliding down nearby slopes between races. Track marshals and volunteers stamped their feet against the cold, breaking into spontaneous horon—the region’s traditional folk dance—to stay warm between heats. The cold was brutal, but the atmosphere was unmistakably warm.
Racing at the Edge of the Map
What sets Rize apart is not just the racing but the setting. The track rises above a landscape where the mountains feel close enough to touch, and the Black Sea lies far below—a reminder that this is a winter sport played at the edge of two worlds: high alpine terrain and coastal horizon.
As one official put it during the opening ceremony in the city center, launching the season against the Black Sea backdrop symbolized what SNX is becoming: a global sport willing to venture beyond conventional winter destinations into places where nature still feels untamed.
Sport as a Shared Moment
This year’s Rize rounds also carried a social message. Under the banner “Sport Protects Against Addiction,” the event aligned with local initiatives promoting healthy lifestyles and youth engagement through sport. The message was simple but powerful: world-class competition can coexist with community values—inspiring young people not only to watch but also to move, try, and believe.
For the riders, Rize was a test of endurance.
For the spectators, it was a front-row seat to winter at its most dramatic.
For the city, it was a moment of connection—between global sport and local life.
Why Rize Stays With You
There’s something about Handüzü Plateau that lingers long after the engines fall silent.
Maybe it’s the sight of snowmobiles launching into the open sky, briefly weightless before crashing back onto the track. Maybe it’s the image of riders, still in race gear, warming their hands around cups of hot tea in the city center hours later. Or maybe it’s the realization that winter sports don’t have to belong only to familiar alpine postcards.
In Rize, winter feels closer to the sea, closer to daily life, and closer to people.
And when the SNX season moves on, the memory remains—of a mountain where snow met the Black Sea and where the world came to race but left with a story.
Because in Rize, the race doesn’t end at the finish line. It becomes part of the place.
Photos by @snowcrossracer777
Photos by @1920yesilay
Photos: Source – Türkiye Motosiklet Federasyonu (tmf.org.tr)
Photos: Source – SNX Snowcross World Championship (worldsnowcross.com)
Video: Source – MXGPTV (@motocross)
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