IORCA was created by Thad Neil in 2003. The overall mission of the organize is to promote, organize and schedule mountain bike racing, including IMBCS races and non-IMBCS races throughout the state of Iowa.

In 2003 Thad Neil, Troy Tellinghuisen and a few others got together and decided that we needed to somehow join forces to create something special for all of the mountain bike racers in the state of Iowa. Race directors were having problems with scheduling and other issues that often times them competing against each other. The result was low rider turnouts, lack of quality competition, and the threat of certain venues being cancelled all together. The solution that was introduced was the Iowa Mountain Bike Championship Series (IMBCS). It was a success in its first year and gone are the days of scheduling problems, lack of riders, and lack of reason to travel to different events around the state.

The IMBCS is a cross-country mountain bike series that is sanctioned by the Iowa Off Road Cycling Association (IORCA) and is currently directed by Cam Kirkpatrick with Julie Kirkpatrick, Jed Gammell, Bruce Brown, Kyle Sedore and Ryan Vanhouweling serving as an advisory committee. In 2011 our schedule will include events in various parts of the state, kicking off with the Sylvan Island Stampede on April 10 and ending with the Mullet on October 9. In addition to each individual event offering it’s own awards, we have a point system in place to reward our competitors at the end of the season in their respective categories. This allows riders to travel around the state and compete at different venues while earning points towards a series championship. We offer different levels of competition so everyone can get involved from the seasoned experienced rider to the first time rider to those riders who only compete for fun and socialization.