Riders ready, watch the gate…

If you have ever been to a BMX race or our 4X races that we started Rocky Trail Entertainment If you have ever been to a BMX race or our 4X races that we started with Rocky Trail Entertainment with in 2008, you know that the next sound is a big fat BEEEEEEP, the gate drops and you GO. We are ready and watching the ‘gate’. This gate is a mix of talking to other event organisers, looking what’s happening overseas, and reading between the lines of endless announcements of state and federal politicians.

So let’s split things up by the states we are currently operating in:

QUEENSLAND

The last frontier of the Rocky Trail events right now and going strong. We just had 2 massive back to back weekends with the Rocky Trail Academy, Shimano MTB GP, the brand new Shootout Pumptrack Challenge on the Sunshine Coast and a Fox Superflow® at the newly re-vamped Eastern Escarpment trails in Brisbane.

Now our QLD A-Team gets a 2 week break before we go again – two more Fox Superflows coming up in Ipswich and at Mt Joyce. We are so, so stoked to have such an enthusiastic crew on the ground who are establishing such strong relationships with our local partners, volunteers and clubs – and are growing our Rocky Trail Community. These guys and girls with our Event Managers Jo Parker and Bob Morris at the helm absolutely rock and are pushing so hard to fly the Rocky Trail flag when we can’t in the other states and territories. Chapeau!

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VICTORIA:

Our plan was to return to Victoria in the second half of 2021 and run a few more events. The borders between states need to be open again before we can do that so we are still in wait, plan and see mode. We have stayed in touch with local clubs and destination partners and will be able to return strongly.

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NSW / ACT:

We were hoping to have a bit of a timeline with replacement dates to re-confirm the postponement of the following events:

• The Wild Wombat with Shimano MTB GP & Trail Run – Mogo
• Shimano MTB GP – Nowra
• Diamonds in the Dirt – Stromlo
• AMB 100 – Stromlo
• Fox Superflow – Stromlo
• Fox Superflow – Greenvalleys

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However, at this stage we don’t know when events will be allowed to be run again in NSW and the ACT. We have been liaising with tourism industry associations and venue partners and are fairly confident that in December we will be racing again and hopefully a lot sooner than that.

We want to assure all registered racers that all entries are safe and will be rolled over to the new race dates as soon as we can set those dates firmly. At that point in time we will also manage any changes or transfer and offer refunds, if required.

Where to from here?

At the moment we are open for events in QLD as well as the JetBlack 24 in Rydal in December 4+5. We will reschedule the rest of our events once we know the date of our re-start. Some of them are likely to be pushed into 2022.

The good news is that we are now in a stage of this pandemic where we are looking forward and into a more positive future. Some inconveniences will remain but the big stresses this s&*%tornado on people, families and businesses are going to be a thing of the past, we’re confident.

On a final note I want to encourage every member of the #rockytrailfamily to get vaccinated.

Rider safety has always and will always be one of the most important aspects of running Rocky Trail events for us. Being vaccinated and therefore helping to limit the spread of this disease is to me a logical step to ensure our racers, volunteers and staff are safe at our events. As a family with a young Kindergarten child, running two businesses taking turns with homeschooling, desperately trying to provide some form of normality for our son and catching up on work most nights, we know the mental pressures these extended lockdowns put on all. Adults and children alike.

Juliane and I do believe that being vaccinated is going to be a requirement in the near future to attend events like ours and if we can open up sooner and safer by only allowing participants who got their jab (if they are eligible of course) then we will have no hesitation to make this a rule for our events. We are also convinced that we as a society need to strive towards protecting each other and think of the most vulnerable groups – those who can’t get vaccinated for medical reasons or personal circumstances and our children and juniors especially. We can each do our bit to make sure that schools and social interactions – and events – can resume sooner.

So: get ready, watch the gate and be ready for that BEEEEEEEEEEPPPP!

Whooop,
Martin with Juliane