Monday 24 July - The poster for the
Queensland Downhill
Championship to be held in Toowoomba on 9th & 10th September can be
downloaded from
here.
Thursday 13 July - Social ride this Sunday at the Pump 'n
Pedals H8H race track. Meeting at bottom of Kuranda at 7 am and will
coordinate cars from there. Great chance for a look at the track prior to
the race. We would also like to welcome two more sponsors - KWT and
Maxxis Tyres. Happy trails - Leoni and Luke
Wednesday 12 July - A request from the Dean and the guys at
Herberton - please go ride the track any opportunity you get
between now and the race! It's open for business, all 13km of it. It needs
bikes on it to help bed it in for the race. From the airstrip, just follow
the slasher tracks (if you get lost, blame Dean, I'm only repeating what
I've been told...)
Monday 10 July - A small update on the Herberton 8 Hour -
you are not required to be a member of the Club (or any other Club)
to compete, although it is recommended. After all, it's the Club(s) that
bring you these events, they don't happen on their own...
Thursday 6 July - The entry form, poster and location map for
the Pump 'n Pedals Herberton 8 Hour race are now available from the H8H
page (click that li'l button over there on the left!)
Sunday 2 July - Updated results from last weekend's XC3
now available on the results page.
Saturday 1 July - As you are all aware, we
really got our butts kicked by Cyclone Larry and his girlfriend Monica.
Downhilling turned into an absolute shambles, and was forced off the menu,
as was the proposed MTX series. Nothing much we could do about it at the
time, of course.
Recently, the Queensland Government invited applications from sporting
bodies for funding under the Sport and Recreation Cyclone Larry Disaster
Relief Program (CLDRP). This funding was for reconstruction of sporting
facilities damaged by the cyclone. The area covered was very specific - the
grants would only be made for the Tully and Johnstone Shires, and Division 1
of Cairns (Div 1 comes up as far as about Babinda). We applied for funding
for the restoration of the El Arish Downhill, and, earlier this week, we
were advised that our application has been successful.
The confirmation letter from the Honourable Tom Barton, MP, Minister for
Sport says, in part, "I acknowledge the hardship experienced by your
organisation during this difficult period, and hope this assistance will
provide some beneficial relief in re-establishing services within your
community."
So in a very short time, we expect to have El Arish up and running again.
The most severe damage has been to the access road, which took a big hit
from the floodwaters - to the extent that it is totally impassable. And
until we can get the road fixed, we can't get up the road to clear it and
then to fix the track.
It is the intention of the committee that the money from the CLDRP will
accomplish most of the work, and that minimal volunteer work will be
required. In fact, we're hoping that we will be able to do it all on one
weekend - and bring your bikes (and your full-face helmets - see below...)!
We should have enough money to be able to give everyone an implement of some
description (chainsaw, brushcutter etc) so that the bulk of the work can be
knocked over in one day, the track finished off on the second day and riding
can commence.
Before anyone says "Why not use the money at Smithfield?" - we can't. It is
allocated only to El Arish. The committee is so close to having full and
permanent access into Smithfield that we expect to be having working bees in
there very shortly too.
So keep your eyes on this site and the forum, we'll be giving you regular
reports on where we are up to, and we'll give you as much advance warning as
possible about when to drag your bodies down the road.
From MTBA:
In line with a recent decision by the UCI on this subject MTBA will now
mandate the use of full-face helmets in all DH events at all levels of
activity in Australia. Tony Scott, MTBA EO said, "This move has been
contemplated for a few years now, and with the shift in UCI policy we now
have a clear directive to protect our members by ensuring that riders in DH
events are protected from head injury as much as possible. Full face helmet
design has also advanced considerably in the last few years meaning that new
lighter weight full face helmets are available and more fully compatible
with DH MTB activity." He added, "The use of full-face helmets will become
mandatory as from July 1 2006, but I suspect that this decision will not
adversely affect many of our members since, by and large, they pretty much
use this type of helmet for DH events anyway. Members are reminded that all
helmets used in MTBA sanctioned events must comply with the Australian
standard or international equivalent and must have a compliance sticker to
that effect. Helmets will be checked for a compliance sticker and will be
rejected and entry to an event denied if a compliance sticker is not
present." MTBA also reminds all riders that a basic safety requirement is
that handle bar ends and any bar-end extensions must have complete closure
by the insertion of a firmly fixed bar-end plug.
######
Tony Scott adds: "In general, most well known helmet brands will comply with
our regulations. However, you are required to carry out a check for a
compliance sticker since we are aware of some cheaper imports that carry no
international compliance at all."
Monday 26 June - Waiting for results
from the XC round held on the weekend, since I wasn't there...
Tuesday 13 June - Congratulations to
Club member Tracey Hannah for her win in the NORBA Women's Downhill
at Sugar Mountain in North Carolina, USA. Tracey beat Sabrina Jonnier by 10
seconds in slippery conditions to take out the event. Just in time for
Tracey's birthday, too!
We would like to welcome Brad and the team at Pump 'n Pedals as the
naming rights sponsor of the 2006 Pump 'n Pedals Herberton 8 Hour. So now do
we call it the PnPH8H? Thanks heaps, Brad - your support is greatly
appreciated!
Wednesday 7 June - Another new story
from Struan on the Stories page (where else was I going to put it?)
Wednesday May 31 - The
2006/2007
Nationals calendar is now available in pdf format
here.
There was a small change to the results of XC1, but since it doesn't affect
anyone except the person concerned, the results and points score will not be
amended until after the next round.
Wednesday May 24 - Results and times for
the first XC round are now available on the Results page.
Monday May 22 - Sorry about the delay
with the results of XC1, I haven't got all the paperwork. Mainly
because I forgot to get it from Mal as we were both leaving Smithfield in a
bit of a hurry on Saturday. The pics are up in the usual place, and Demetri
Pappas blitzed the field.
The Cairns round of the Tri-City Series is going to be like the Townsville
round - it's not happening. As a consolation, Mackay will be running a DH
event the same weekend. Or you could go to the Crusty Demons show at the
Showground... Now that we appear to have all our ducks pretty well lined up,
we need to be certain they are all signed off correctly, and then we can go
ahead and rebuild Smithfield. We plan only to postpone races, not cancel
them. You will still get the same number of races as originally scheduled.
Somehow. We'll make them fit in... Same with the MTX rounds - the
cyclones turned Aloomba into a bog, and Smithfield is even worse.
If you think all these postponements are bad, you should try it from the
Committee's viewpoint - we're tearing our hair out trying to get events
going and every time we think we're in the clear, something else bites us in
the butt...
Tuesday May 16 - Round 1 of the 2006
XC Championship will go ahead as planned this Saturday arvo - 20th May,
3.00pm start from McGregor Road.
Round 1 of the 2006 DH Championship will be postponed (possibly into
August). It's looking very good for access into Smithfield, we just have to
finalise some more minor stuff and we're back in. However, it won't happen
in time for us to get the track ready for the 28th May.
So watch this space for working bee information, and also watch the forum.
As soon as we get the all-clear, it's 'all hands on deck'! We are not
cancelling the round, just moving it. You will get your full set of events
as promised (unless another bloody natural disaster happens along...)
Monday 8 May - Yes, the Day/Night
Pony Express is definitely ON this weekend! If you are available to
help, please contact Damian Jones on 0403 456 477 as soon as possible. We
need help marking out the track so that you can see it in the dark, and also
to shortcut some of the swamps that Monica left for us.
Congratulations to Club Member Mick Hannah for taking out the first
round of the World Cup for Cannondale in Spain, beating Nathan Rennie by the
narrowest of margins. Mick was also the fastest qualifier.
To all members: I have had to cancel the Cooktown Discovery
Weekend ride due to lack of interest, possibly because it clashes
with a club ride, and I am out of time to include it in the program. I
would still like to run the ride so maybe if the club can come up with a
date for next season and let me know we will give it a go. Thanks to
those who did contact me.
Ray Wright Cooktown
40 695392 a/h
Monday 24 April - News!
|
MOUNTAIN BIKE TRACK
WORKING BEES |
| Cross Country |
|
Downhill |
| Where: Smithfield MTB Park, Green Loop |
|
Where: Kuranda DH Track |
| When: Saturday 29 April 3pm to 6pm (Pony
Express cancelled due to track conditions) |
|
When: Saturday 6 May 3pm to 6pm |
| Meet: McGregor Road trailhead at 3pm |
|
Meet: Bottom parking area of Kuranda track,
carpool to required areas |
| Bring: Water, hat, gloves, sunscreen, tools -
shovels, brushhook, rake etc |
|
Bring: Water, hat, gloves, sunscreen, tools -
shovels, brushhook, rake etc |
| |
|
|
|
MAKE A DIFFERENCE - HELP
FIX A TRACK! |
Also, it seems there might be some very encouraging information forthcoming
about the Smithfield DH track access...
Please note that the Pony Express (29th) is definitely cancelled
(as above)
Sunday 23 April - We've heard nothing
from Townsville about the second round of the Tri-City Challenge this coming
weekend, and there is nothing on their website, so you better assume it's
not happening...
Results from Mackay can be downloaded
here in pdf format.
Friday 14 April We have a problem... At
this stage, we don't have a useable downhill track on which we can conduct
race meetings. We've been talking to Miles Mead, and his place, as
you may imagine, is absolutely trashed. Smithfield is damaged, but
anyway we don't as yet have permission to be in there so it's out of the
question. Our only other option is Pilba Peak, and after talking to
Dan this morning, there is no way it could possibly be ready before
mid-July, assuming we can agree on terms for its use. We had a look at it
this morning, and the damage there is immense. Dan tells me that the
container on site was blown into the trees...
So the long and short of it is that at this point in time all DH racing is
on hold. This doesn't mean you can't ride, you just can't race. We can't use
places like Kuranda as we would run foul of so many government
departments that we wouldn't be able to count them all.
On the bright side, the Aloomba MTX course is under construction, and
we've got a couple of photos for you to have a play with to help design the
track. Click on the thumbnails below, and you'll see what you have to work
with. If you want to play, download and print out the pics, draw over them
to show your plans, and take them in to Damian at Certified before close of
business on Saturday 6th May.
In light of all the above, you'd better check the amendments to the
calendar. Oh, just to make things worse, we haven't heard from Townsville
about the Tri-Cities event! Who knows, Tri-Cities might be over and done
with this weekend in Mackay!
We will run extra XC and MTX events to make up for the loss of the DH
events. Stay tuned for details!
Friday 7 April - There's a new story
for you to read on the Stories page (it seemed like a good place to put it!)
from Struan Lamont - he and Kim Kelleher have been off playing
silly buggers again...
Everything from November 05 to March 06 has been archived
here
Everything from November 20 back to middle August 05 has now been
archived here
Everything from middle August 05 back to July 05 has now been archived
here
Everything from June 05 back to March 05
has now been archived here
Everything from February 05 back to
November 1, 04 has now been archived
here
Everything from November 1 back to October
1 has now been archived here
Everything from October 1 back to August
28th has now been archived here
Everything from August 28th back to May has
now been archived
here
Everything from May back to the beginning
of this site is archived
here
