Race Report, Photos and Results Fox Superflow Central Coast NSW

Central Coast racer takes Fox Superflow series lead at Ourimbah race

Local events promoter Rocky Trail Entertainment is showcasing Central Coast’s prime mountain biking asset the Ourimbah State Forest near Wyong this month. Supported by the Central Coast Council and endorsed by the local Central Coast MTB Club over 300 racers competed at the Ourimbah MTB Park in Rocky Trail’s Fox Superflow gravity event last weekend. The athletes were spread across two days of racing as part of a tight Covid-19 Safety Plan of racing. Newcastle’s Graeme Mudd took out the fastest race time in the men’s classification with Zoe Cuthbert from Canberra taking the women’s line honours. Local pinner Jake Newell from Kincumber place fourth in Elites and local junior shredder Katarina Carlsson from Umina took out the U13’s female win. The ‘rocky trail racing’ action at Ourimbah MTB Park continues with their flagship cross-country event, the Shimano MTB Grand Prix four and seven hour event this Saturday.

Rocky Trail Entertainment has been based on the Central Coast since 2012, which was when they launched the Fox Superflow gravity racing concept at Ourimbah MTB Park. Since then the unique events have become the most popular and fastest growing gravity racing series in Australia. As one of the major private promoters of the sport in the country, the team from Rocky Trail Entertainment say that their business had faced difficult challenges in the new Covid-19 landscape of the tourism and events industries. However, since returning to the ‘rocky trails’ in July 2020 and despite a community sports shutdown in August and September, their events had been thriving.

“We were the very first private organiser in Australia to return to racing in July 2020 and by next weekend will have delivered 20 events in the Covid19-recovery period across NSW, QLD and the ACT. We temporarily changed critical elements of all our racing formats, which we knew that we could replicate across all venues – including the Ourimbah MTB Park.”

Juliane Wisata, Founder/Marketing Director

The business had been able to sustainably adapt to the new Covnid-19 environment and had implemented a very strict and tight pandemic risk management plan, explained Wisata and that their customer base had been growing. “We have experienced exceptionally high growth rates across all event types”, she added.

It had been challenging at times, however, as an outdoor events provider they had quickly realised their responsibility to deliver the dearly needed outlet for their customers to return to the trails. “Riding and racing bikes, like any sport, is an important outlet to stay healthy physically but most importantly mentally, which these times have shown us”, Wisata said. “Whilst racing is our core activity it has become a major goal for us to foster the mountain biking and racing community that we have created over the years – we are grateful that we can be racing on such beautiful trails here on the Central Coast, supported by Council and an active local club”, she added.

Local talent out on course, series lead for Kincumber’s Jake Newell

Central Coast’s gravity talent was out in force at the Ourimbah State Forest on the weekend with one local racing to take over the overall Fox Superflow Series lead in the Elite Men’s: Jake Newell raced on his home trails against some of Australia’s top enduro names and placed fourth outright in a race time of 7:05.4. The Kincumber rider said he had enjoyed the race so close to home after traveling with Rocky Trail to Fox Superflow events across NSW and the ACT as well as QLD since July this year:

I was lucky to come away with 3rd place in Elites against some other fast locals. I have competed in the whole NSW Fox Superflow series so far and 1 round in QLD. I love the challenge of technical tracks mixed with some pedaling, which allows these events to cater for every level of rider, it’s always great to see new faces out there giving it a go. See you at the next round in Green Valleys!

Jake Newell

The series runner-up Ethan Corney placed 4th in Elite and 5th outright at Ourimbah and suffered a nasty crash, which saw him airlifted to hospital late on Saturday afternoon. Corney has since been in touch with organisers reporting that he was feeling beaten up and confirmed that nothing was broken “just bruised”and that he was on the mend. He thanked emergency services and first aid responders with the Rocky Trail crew for their swift assistance on the day.

Graeme Mudd and Zoe Cuthbert for the outright victories

The Fox Superflow format at Ourimbah MTB Park offered three challenging timed race tracks, with five attempts on each to clock in the fastest combined race time. With un-timed ascents to the starts it’s that social aspect that riders have come to appreciate and love.

Newcastle’s Graeme Mudd is one of Australia’s top gravity racers and had lined-up at Ourimbah for his first competition for the year. The 27-year old elite was the only racer to clock in a sub-seven minute race time and took out the outright line honours in 6:59.8.

“Good thing about winning the only race you have done in 2020, is being able to say you’ve won every race you’ve been in this year! Rocky Trail aalways puts on a fun event. Was good to spin some legs and some yarns with the bike family.”

Graeme Mudd, outright winner at Ourimbah

In second overall and in the elite men was Thomas Crimmins from Canberra in 7:00.7. In third outright was the Under 19’s winner Cooper Lowe from Engadine.

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Fellow South-Sydney racer Connor Mielke took out the fastest female race time on Saturday opening the account with 8:58.5. The time kept her on the bronze podium with Sunday’s line-up of Elite racers of Zoe Cuthbert and Katherine Hosking taking the top steps.

Canberra’s Zoe Cuthbert clocked in a time of 8:13.7 with Armidale’s Hosking slotting in behind with a gap of only 0.3 seconds, who said she had been “itching to get back into racing” and that we was so impressed with the high level of competition among the racing women:

It is truly amazing to have great competition, especially when you have been racing together for 8 or so years! Zoe Cuthbert has been there for every race [this year], providing super close racing and each race I finish I’m glad that I’ve been able to race against such a great bunch of chicks! Congrats Zoe on the win, 0.3 sec between us! Big thanks to Rocky Trail for putting on another cracking race!

Katherine Hosking

The U19’s National Champion Zoe Cuthbert chimed in, admitting that fellow racer Hosking had been pushing her to go faster when she thought she couldn’t. In the overall Elite Women’s series 2020 ranking Cuthbert literally cements her lead with 1950 points ahead of runner-up Hosking with 900 points.

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Fox Superflow: Race the way you ride

The Fox Superflow events had evolved to its current popularity over the course of a decade, said Rocky Trail co-founder Juliane Wisata.

“We have invested a lot in shaping the concept over the years and specific timing equipment to allow our competitors to ‘race the way they love riding their bikes’ – this means that we encourage the social element of our events by not timing the uphills and are offering three to four race stages that can be completed in any order and up to five times”, she explained. This flexibility had been attracting a wide range of racers and had been growing the junior categories.

“We had a strong line-up of experienced racers on the Central Coast across all age groups. This event attracts a lot of juniors and also casual master riders in the 30+ and 40+ age groups with a lot of groups and whole families competing. Over 40% of competitors at Ourimbah MTB Park were under 19 years old with almost one fifth in the 15-17 year age bracket.”

Juliane Wisata

Almost 30 local Central Coast riders had competed in the event with a third of them placing in the top 10 of their race classifications. Young Katarina Carlsson took the victory in the U13’s Female race category home to Umina. The experienced young club rider had been coached by her dad from a young age and completed all three race runs in a time of 9:58.5, which placed her in the top half of the overall female field.

“I am absolutely stoked to take the win today at the Fox Superflow with Rocky Trail Entertainment. I was trying my best to keep it together while my legs were like jelly!”

Katarina Carlsson

The final NSW Fox Superflow race will take the Rocky Trail racing circus to the Illawarra’s Greenvalleys MTB Park. The Central Coast racing action continues on the cross-country trails this Saturday, 24 October, with the Shimano MTB Grand Prix.

Virtual Ceremony

Photos

Photos: OuterImage.com.au

Attention media: photos may only be used free of charge for coverage about Rocky Trail Entertainment owned or branded races, events or corporate news. For more information or copyright requests, contact Juliane Wisata via email or on 0416 737 972.

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Competitors: Download your Race Photos

Race Photos are now online and ready for download from the Outer Image Collective portal! They are included in your entry with thanks to support from Mackay Regional Council, Ride Fox Australia, Lazer Sport Australia and Race Face Performance Products through Shimano Cycling Australia and Stans NoTubes via Jetblack Products Australia. Get your pics now and share them with your friends! Use the hashtag #rockytrailracer so we can follow your stories! Remember to check he no-number galleries too, just in case!

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