[updated, 2 August 2021]
It is with a heavy heart that we must announce that effective immediately we will put all our events that are scheduled for the remainder of the year on hold.
Dear #rockytrailracers,
It’s been a while since I had to write a general Covid blog about the ‘state of Rocky Trail’. It’s also taken me longer than usual to make myself do it. The reason was a mixture of frustration and anger with a a bit of ‘shellshock’ thrown in for good measure.
When we put our program together for 2021 we did have contingency plans for 3 week statewide lockdowns and were ready for those. Needless to say Delta is a whole different beast yet again that tests every individual and business owner in the country. However… we do have the best team in the world when it comes to ducking and weaving Covid and is strong and resilient to come up with new plans when the old ones don’t work.
What has fuelled our resilience
With NSW in lockdown since the end of June, our QLD based events team with Jo and Bob at the helm have been stupidly busy and were running back to back weekends with very successful events with a record participation of close to 250 secondary students from 29 schools in the Rocky Trail Academy and resurrecting Hinze Dam on the Gold Coast as a racing venue to name but a few.
We have been establishing some strong relationships with so many amazing venue and destination partners, which has been a real motivation for us all.
Race Reports:
Academy Nerang
Fox Superflow® Nerang
Back at the Rocky Trail HQ Juliane and I have also been using this downtime to plan the 2022 season and are working on exciting new formats always evolving what we have on offer. Furthermore we have been busy working on projects with our sister company Rocky Trail Destination and supporting our overseas students with their bachelor and master theses and exams. So no matter what happens in the next few months Rocky Trail Entertainment will be around for a long time to come!
Looking ahead
This brings us to our events in the second half of the year. With QLD extending the lockdown as of today [updated 2 August 2021] , no one knows how long the Sydney lockdown will continue (we live on the Central Coast and are therefore locked down too) all our planning is very tentative and we are ready for every possible scenario. Our 2020 approach has worked really well and we will be doing the same again in 2021. Once the lockdown ends we will reshuffle our NSW, QLD and – if need be – ACT events and bring you races very quickly again. We have also been doing some planning work for VIC races later in the year:
NSW/ACT
- The Shimano MTB GP in Mogo has (for now) been pushed to the B-date on October 23. The Rocky Trail Run in Mogo is scheduled for the following day.
- The Shimano MTB GP in Nowra is still on the original date but there is a high chance that it needs to be postponed as well.
- We are hopeful that we can run the AMB100 and the Fox Superflow® in Canberra as per the original schedule in September but if we need to find a new date we will and keep you updated.
QLD
- Fox Superflow® in Ipswich will be postponed – we are currently securing a B-date with our venue partners and stakeholders.
- The racing weekend on the Sunshine Coast is still a few weeks away and there is a slight chance that by then the situation in QLD will have eased, so for now, registrations are on hold and we are watching the situation closely.
Once we are out of the lockdowns and have more certainty of our event dates we will handle all the transfers. As always you can either race on the B-date if the event is postponed, transfer your entry to another event or get a refund.
No need for you to do anything at the moment – we once again ask you to hang in there with us, all your entries are safe and we will contact all registered racers once we have the dates sorted. A more detailed “plan of attack for registered racers” is in the Covid-19 update from 2 August 2021.
Keep pushing (we are)
Finally, on a personal note, I want to encourage you as much as I can to keep pushing.
There was a stage at the Crocodile Trophy a few year’s back – it would have been my 2nd or 3rd participation in the epic race – that I remember very well. We rode into Laura, the temperature was in the high 30s, it was a particularly long stage and the last 10km were on a heavily corrugated road with deep sandy sections. I was completely drained of energy, couldn’t eat anymore and lost all love for the sport at that moment. My average speed on that mess of a road was 10km/h so I knew it would be another hour before crossing the finish line. I stopped and looked around to find a shady tree to sit under and wait for the sag wagon. Luckily the sparse dead trees around me offered no shade whatsover and I knew that the sag wagon was hours behind me. I thought of my options and decided to keep going despite having nothing left in the tank. Eventually I collapsed on the finish line, recovered…. and did it again the next day.
I always knew that the finish line was there and for the first time I can see the finish line for this Covid race after following closely what’s happening in Austria and other parts of Europe: It’s getting vaccinated and 2022 will look a whole lot better for all of us the quicker we can achieve that goal.
We all have that fight in us and it’s ok to be angry sometimes, frustrated even anxious. But we are a resilient bunch, physically fit and have the Rocky Trail family to embrace us all again.
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