Very curious to hear what the riders think; all that wood is gonna be lethal if it rains and those vertical rock lane dividers look stupid-dangerous if someone crashes there...
Personally i see the point of man made features on an xc course. Looks good on tv. Separates the riders. It was interesting watching the dh guys at the latest dhse send the man made rock garden that was on the xc World Cup course. at the end of the day World Cup xc racing is exactly what happens when you need to film the event. The courses are designed to imitate xc riding in a race able format. And often the venues have to make do with what they got. Looks like the organizers squeezed every bit of elevation...
Looking at Amaury's GoPro of his winning run (embedded below), the first thing that stands out is the pure mix of aggression and flow. The amount of speed he manages to generate in some of those sloppy, greasy turns is quite simply incredible. The second thing is the precision. Insane! Look at this frame grab, he was hauling the mail in this section and fully committed to this tiny little gap between two painted rocks. Crazy! GoPro run: