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!
For the SERIES FINALE 2018 we have an absolute treat for you – W.I.N.G.E.L.L.O.
We have been asked for many years now by riders to run an event there and this weekend it’s finally happening, the first Rocky Trail event ever at this popular mountain bike trail network.
We would like to thank the land managers and trail custodians to have us – the trails are managed by the Forestry Corporation and built and maintained by the Highlands Trails team. We would also like to thank the Southern Highlands CC for their support and input.
Here is the rider briefing with some bits and pieces of information to get you ready for and into the mood for racing with Rocky Trail Entertainment!
If you have already signed up, it’s awesome to have you on board! Still one the fence? Online registrations are open until Friday morning 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 – Wingello State Forest
Offering 4 and 7 hour competitions for solo and team riders across many age categories, the Shimano MTB GP promises to deliver a fun race track that has been proposed by the local riders. Here is the proposed trailmap but changes are likely to occur and will be confirmed this Thursday – Martin is heading there to mark the track tomorrow.
Weather: Looks brilliant!
It looks like we are in for a brilliant early-summer’s day of racing with no rain forecast and moderate temperatures forecast! Yassss!
Camping: Yes!
You can camp at the event centre and we will bring portable toilets in.
Horse riding: Please be mindful!
Please be mindful that the Wingello State Forest fire trail network is also used by horse riders; so if you are riding in the days leading up to Saturday and on the Sunday, please be mindful of this fellow user group. Please make yourself known politely and approach them with care so as not to startle the horses. Thanks.
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.
Race set up and facilities
Event centre
Access the event centre and trail head from Forest Road across from the Railway Station in Wingello, then head along Caoura Road, then left into Gulph Road after you pass the Wingello State Forest Camp. The event centre is on Nyes Creek Road – here is the link to the map on Google.
GPS Code: -34.720026, 150.196929
Food & Drinks
The Daily Espresso’s will be there again with coffee and snacks.
Support Service
We will have some basic spare parts for you to purchase; please bring specific parts with you.
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!
Doesn’t matter if you are racing in a different category or team across different Shimano MTB GP events, this is assigned to YOUR name and valid all season! We are trying to pre-assign as many as possible for each event, but of course can make changes on the day. Have a chat to us at rego!
After this race we will also award the Series GC and age category winners; GC winners will win one of these cups:
Accommodation near Stromlo Forest Park:
You can camp at the event centre and we will bring portable toilets in. Please be mindful that the Wingello State Forest fire trail network is also used by horse riders; so if you are riding in the days leading up to Saturday and on the Sunday, please be mindful of this fellow user group. Please make yourself known politely and approach them with care so as not to startle the horses. Thanks.
Pedal 4 Pierce Charity 
Pedal 4 Pierce is our charity of choice and these guys call Canberra and Stromlo home, riding and racing their bikes for kids who can’t and raising money and awareness to cure Congenital Muscular Dystrophy. You can help out by donating at our events – projects funded by Pedal 4 Pierce support the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
For any more questions, please contact us via cycle@rockytrailentertainment.com and visit the event website.
A huge thanks to the continued support by our headline sponsor Shimano Cycling Australia – you guys ROCK!
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