The first event in our SHIMANO MTB Grand Prix Series this year is on at Glenrock State Conservation Reserve and we have great privilege to have secured this venue, which is part of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. If you have already signed up, it’s awesome to have you on board! Here are some bits and pieces of information to get you ready for and into the mood for racing with Rocky Trail Entertainment!
If you’re still on the fence, online registration is usually open until the Friday, the day before race day. Should we be getting close to selling out, we will communicate it via our website and our social media platforms.
The venue – Glenrock
Glenrock… one of THE most popular mountain bike trail networks in Newcastle! It’s a favourite for the locals with its sweeping ocean views for after-work and weekend escapes and definitely worth the drive for visiting riders. We’d like you to know that we’re working very closely and diligently together with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and that part of our venue fees are going into trail maintenance and upkeep of the facility, we’re told. In summary, it’s VERY special to be racing there and certainly a treat not just for our racers but also for us as organisers.
The race track we’ve put together is about 9km long and you can find a map on our website’s LOCATION tab:
The surrounds – Newcastle
If you’re visiting from Sydney, from the Central Coast or from further interstate or from Canberra, there’s a lot to see and do before and after you race! We’ve put together some information, chatting to the local riders we know to give you some ideas on our BLOG:
The racing – a social affair
As the owners of Rocky Trail, Juliane and Martin, we created the GP events around our favourite trails and we love that we get to discover new venues and re-discover the classics every year. From one race in 2009, the events have evolved over the years and albeit all being stand-alone races they all are part of the over-arching annual series. Riders competing in two or more events get to accumulate series points and get trophies and bragging rights for collecting most points (the best 4 out of the 5 race results count).
We created a 4 and 7 hour competition within each race and there are quite a few categories to choose from – solo and pairs across both options as well as a team of 3 category in the seven-hour.
Everyone gets results in a General Classification as well as in Age Divisions.
It has been very important to us to keep this series a set of very social races. We are attracting some of the big names in the XC racing world – often the local guns come out for a play or come along for the series to keep training throughout the year, or, as we’ve been told quite often, “we come because it’s fun and you guys put on a good show”. That’s flattering to hear, however, you must know that with our crew and suppliers, we strive to organise professional events that are safe, fair, value for money, that take you to exciting venues and those where we mountain bikers are welcome.
We want to deliver a series that is less of an elite- and winners-only-focused competition, but a positive and inclusive experience for all participants. The majority of our racers are amateur riders and we love riding and racing ourselves, so we do like to put on some good tunes and most of the time our “honorary Entertainment Manager”, DJ Nigel from Pedal4Pierce, our charity of choice, will spin not only his wheels but also the decks to crank out some tunes that will push you out onto each lap and keep you entertained as you are having a rest in the event centre.
Race schedule
Racing starts at 9am – pick up your number plate from 7am.
Race atmosphere
The atmosphere in our event centre is friendly, happy and inclusive and you will see that Martin is very much in charge. We have been working with most of our suppliers for years – from first aiders to marshals to caterers to photographers, it is our top priority for you to have an amazing time out on your bike and to lend a helping (and rescuing) hand if need be.
Food & Drinks
You can bring your own supplies and we’ll have our caterer on-site who will look after you all day with hot and cold drinks of course and they always have something up their sleeves when it comes to the food and snacks. Choose from yoghurt and muesli and fresh fruit as well as pasta dishes, your classic sandwhiches and snacks to tasty shakes and sweet treats.
Hydration
The crew from HDX will be at Glenrock and you can fill up on electrolytes and water at the HDX Hydration Station in the event centre.
Support Service
We will have the crew from FIZO Cycling on-site to assist you with mechanicals – they have some cool offers when it comes to bike service and set-up, have a chat to Jason “Moxy” Moxham and he can sort you out.
Entertainment for visitors & kids
Having said that, we welcome visitors and spectators and invite you to bring your families and kids and friends and parents and partners along to watch you race. For the little visitors we do colouring-in pages and little giveaways and free junior races – these are very simple time-trial style races around the event centre or on kids tracks if the venues allow it.
For the kids – at Glenrock we discovered a nice little trail a short walk from the event centre, and you’ll see Juliane and the gang head out there around 11am for a shred fest! – You can sign up your kids on the day, parents are welcome to come along and help marshalling and keeping those little spirits high, of course!
The hard facts – what you get
We want to reward as many riders as possible with prizes across the series. Therefore,
We will hand out the prizes BEFORE the race start!
Rather than handing out the prizes we get from our fantastic sponsors to the winning riders only, we are spreading more spot prizes across the entire field. We will issue as many raffle giveaway tickets as we receive prizes from our sponsors at each race and they will be categorised according to item value. Each rider with a “winning ticket” will be able to pick a prize from the “Rocky Trail Bazaar” of spot prizes. All other tickets go into the draw for a selected number of major prizes, which will differ from race to race. Having said that, here’s what you get at Glenrock in any case:
- FREE rider photos by the OuterImage.com.au crew thanks to our major sponsor, SHIMANO Cycling Australia
- Rocky Trail 10-year anniversary drink bottle
- A chance to win a prize via a raffle ticket draw
Introducing in 2018: GC winning number plates!
Each GC winner at every 2018 race will get a pre-assigned and pre-printed number plate, which you can keep and race with for the rest of the series! It’s your exclusive race number that will be reserved for you across the entire series!
More SHIMANO MTB GP events coming up in 2018:
Ourimbah, Wyong – 23 Jun *old-school*
The “home track” of the Rocky Trail crew – right in the heart of the NSW Central Coast. Think: racing Saturday, beaches and cafes Sunday.
Coondoo, Nowra – 28 July *new*
Close to Canberra, close to Sydney. Fast and flowy trails.
Stromlo Forest Park, Canberra – 8 Sept *classic*
So much fun to find different trail combinations at this “classic” under the GP race tracks.
Wingello – 27 Oct *new*finally*
We’ve had so many requests for these trails over the years – here you go! Done.
For any more questions, please contact us via cycle@rockytrailentertainment.com and visit the event website.
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