Rocky Trail’s SHIMANO MTB Grand Prix Series is one of the longest-standing cross-country series in Australia. All events of the series are stand-alone races and participants can collect points for an overarching series classification. The next event will be held on 23 June near Wyong in NSW, supported by the local Central Coast Council. Here are some bits and pieces of information to get you ready for and into the mood for racing with Rocky Trail Entertainment!
Offering 4 and 7 hour competitions for solo and team riders across many age categories, it aims to take its racers to ‘classic’ mountain bike trails in Sydney and in Canberra and often also to new venues, which are constantly scouted out by the organisers.
If you have already signed up, it’s awesome to have you on board! Still one the fence? Online registrations are open until Friday evening 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 – Ourimbah
Ourimbah is the ‘home track’ of the Rocky Trail crew and as such we are really excited to have our racers ‘come and visit’ us on the Central Coast. We’re so proud that the local Council has been supporting our events and we also have a couple of local businesses who are looking forward to welcoming you with some giveaways at the race and discounts at their stores.
The race track we’ve put together is about 9km long and you can find a map on our website’s LOCATION tab. Please note that we will finalise the track in the week before the race; the area has had a bit of rain recently and we want to consult with the local club and caretakers and inspect some sections ourselves to put together the safest, most sustainable and fun track for you! We’ll send out a newsletter with those final details.
The surrounds – Wyong and the Central Coast
We have been living on the NSW Central Coast since 2012 and have settled into a bush & beach lifestyle up here. Especially since having our little son 2.5 years ago we have been exploring the region on foot and on bicycles and we want to tempt you to make a weekend out of it! Bring your family, come with a bunch of mates, take along your loved one… there is a lot to do and to explore up here and it’s not far from Sydney and Newcastle and well worth the drive from Canberra or further away!
Hey, did you know it’s whale watching season? – We are sharing our favourite spots and more activities on our blog:
> Fun stuff for Rocky Trail FAMILIES – whale watching, bushwalking, playgrounds, beaches and more!
> Action for Rocky Trail MATES – beer tasting, pubs, hiking and more!
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 The Daily Espressos 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 yogurt and muesli and fresh fruit as well as pasta dishes, your classic sandwiches and snacks to tasty shakes and sweet treats.
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.
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:
- FREE rider photos by the OuterImage.com.au crew thanks to our major sponsor, SHIMANO Cycling Australia
- 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!
Local business supporting the events
Panonia Wellness and Recovery Products
PANONIA
Shop 6, The Chapman Building
14-16 Alison Rd., Wyong NSW 2259
We love Panonia’s Bushwalk Recovery blend, which contains potent Australian Native essential oils with anti-inflammatory, decongestant and pain-relieving properties. It is this blend that allows us to aid in reducing pain and inflammation – perfect to recover from our racing weekends!
Rocky Trail arrangement:
“We will have samples of the “Bushwalk Recovery Bath Soak” available as giveaways in our Rocky Trail bazaar at the Shimano MTB GP and as prizes at the Fox Superflow!”
Meet the Panonia founder at out races!
Ashka will be on-site on Saturday 23 June from 7-10am to tell you all about her products and what’s good for you and why not visit the beautiful Panonia store in Wyong as well?
>> Our favourite products – more information about Panonia on the Rocky Trail blog
Luka Chocolates
LUKA CHOCOLATES
@ Wyong Milk Factory
Alison Rd., Wyong NSW 2259
Luka Chocolates is an Australian artisan chocolate company inspired by gathering the best knowledge and know-how from traditional Belgian chocolate makers.
Go on, drop in and taste a different kind of chocolate and let us take you on a journey into the intricacies of taste and flavour…
Luka Chocolates offer:
“We would like to offer the Rocky Trail racers a special discount of 10% off with the mention of the specific phrase ‘ROCKY TRAIL RACER‘ in the shop.For purchases online, the following discount code applies: RockyTrailRacer.
This offer is valid from 23 June 2018 until 2 July 2018.”
More SHIMANO MTB GP events coming up in 2018:
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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