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There are a fair few contenders for the accolade of “world’s toughest freeride mountain bike event,” but Red Bull appear to sponsor all of them. So they’re on to a winner there. Latest to step to the start ramp is the simply-monikered Red Bull Ride 2003 in Australia.
There’s something of a trend in more conventional MTB racing to have courses near to major population centres in the interests of spectator accessibility. The Red Bull Ride goes to almost the opposite extreme and will position itself not only in a country on the other side of the world for most people but chooses a location within that country for which the phrase “out in the sticks” could almost have been invented. Then again, the only way you can spectate is to be an official race volunteer, so even if you happened to be in Jindabyne, New South Wales (two and a half hours drive from Canberra or six from Sydney) between the 19th and 24th of January you couldn’t just pop along.
Jindabyne? It may sound like a proprietary engine degreaser, but Jindabyne is a ski resort in winter and a watersports and fishing retreat (there’s a lake, created in the 60s as part of a hydro-electric scheme that also resulted in the whole town having to be rebuilt a bit higher up) in the summer. For those unacquainted with the seasons of the antipodes, January is the height of summer in Australia.
So what’s the event actually all about? It’s a freeride competition, which sounds a bit of an oxymoron. But the key thing is that it’s not a race – time taken is unimportant. The course runs from the top of a handy 1,000m mountain right down to the lake shore, across rocks, through scrub and the occasional tree and including natural and artificial drops (including a 25-footer near the bottom), jumps, steep technical sections and North Shore-style obstacles like teeter-totters and log rides. There are various line options through the course, which is divided into sections – in most cases each section has a choice of a line with a stunt in it or an easier line around the stunt. Taking the easy line isn’t necessarily a cop-out, though – riders may opt to take an easier line higher on the course to set themselves up for something bigger lower down.
As for the scoring, it’s all in the hands of the judges. There are four criteria – Difficulty of Line, Control (“A fall is the ultimate loss of control, however a skilful recovery will reduce the penalty”), Style/Flair (“a scale … between a ‘standard run’ and a ‘mesmerising display of undeniable talent.'”) and of course Overall Impression.
The entry is limited to 25 riders, so it’s no surprise to see some famous names on the list. There’s no shortage of Australians, with Nathan Rennie, Sean McCarroll, Jared Rando and others. And of course there’s a healthy Canadian contingent including Dave Watson, Richie Schley, Robbie Bourdon, Thomas Vanderham and Red Bull Rampage winner Tyler Klassen. From the rest of the world there’s the likes of Shaums March, Timo Pritzel, Cedric Gracia and our very own Steve Peat.
They’ll all be competing for the AU$15,000 main prize (just over 5,000 of our British pounds). Check out www.redbullride.com (turn your PC volume down if you’re at work…) for further details and pics and video from last year’s event…
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