With a new crew captaining the ship, the first edition of the Cape to Cape presented by Event Matrix ran over the weekend with riders from all over the country and beyond descending on Western Australia for four days of racing around Margaret River.
With a field over 600 strong, there was a new stage, a new e-Bike category and no shortage of firepower among the elites to animate the front of the race.
Bill Hayes and Megan Grygorcewicz are the dynamic duo behind Event Matrix and tell Flow they are elated with how everything ran and the way the wider team of staff, contractors and volunteers came together to produce such a successful race.
“(We were stoked to see the) The camaraderie of the riders, community groups, partners, stakeholders and spectators. The atmosphere at the event was better than we could have imagined, and the acceptance of the various groups and wider MTB community with our new ownership and changes we made was unreal,” they said.
“The Nannup stage was obviously a highlight going to a new part of the beautiful South West region, and although it was a tough stage the riders were amazed by the trails in the Tank 7 MTB Park. We’re also surprised by how far and wide our international riders travelled to the event, which was fantastic to see – and so proud to show off the incredible West Australian landscape and culture, which is all possible thanks to the support of Tourism Western Australia and our local government partners,” they continued.
Stage 1 | Cape Leeuwin
It would not be Cape to Cape without the event kicking off at the tallest lighthouse on mainland Australia, which also happens to be at the most southwesterly point of the continent — the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse.
Stage 1 saw riders setting off from the lighthouse on a 45km loop complete with 871m of climbing. While the sun was out, the wind was formidable, and the race was on straight from the gun up Skippy Rock Road.
Youngster Connor Wright turned the screws diving into the singletrack, forcing a selection of five riders, including Dan McConnell, Reece Tucknott, XC National Champ Cam Ivory, and Oceania Champ XCM Brent Rees — talk about firepower!
Wright would lose contact due to a mechanical, with the remaining four staying together into a sprint finish. McConnell would ultimately have the legs to finish the deal, coming away with the victory.
The women’s field saw Bec Henderson return to Cape Leeuwin for the first time since 2017 and was the undoubted favourite coming into the race. It was not going to be a walk in the park for the four-time Olympian, with Izzy Flint and Sarah Tucknott also in the hunt.
Henderson and Flint would ride away together early in the stage. But the Primaflor Mondraker rider would ride the U23 XC and CX champ off her wheel by the time she’d reached Sally’s Hill and would make it back to the Lighthouse five minutes faster than Flint.
Tucknott rode into third place, coming in 16 minutes down on Henderson.
Stage 2 | Nannup
The second stage of the 2024 Cape to Cape saw the race sail into Nannup for the first time to explore the paradise in the pines. Starting from Foreshore Park, the 48km stage took in the Tank 7 trail network and included a whopping 1,135m of climbing.
Wright was again the instigator on today’s stage, making the first move as the riders entered the singletrack. He made it quite a tall order for the other riders to keep him in sight.
Ivory would get a gap in the closing stages of the race, taking the win and the leader’s jersey — though he had a moment and nearly lost it all. Rees would take second on the day, with Wright piping Reece Tucknott in a sprint finish for third.
Despite saying she wasn’t going into this race seeking results, Henderson would tack onto the front group with the Elite Men and build a significant time gap to her rivals. Flint would come in second place, eight minutes back, and Sarah Tucknott would again round out the podium another ten minutes back.
Stage 3 | Margaret River
Stage three is the queen stage of the 2024 Cape to Cape, with the course starting and finishing at Colonial Brewing Co. It’s also Super Sox Saturday, which raises money for the Dismantle’s Bike Rescue youth development initiative and saw the introduction of the Cape Mini, a one-day race for riders not quite ready for the entire four-day stage race, but still wanted to experience what Cape to Cape is all about.
Today, riders would head for Compartment 10 and The Pines for 53km and 808m of climbing. And the local boy, Connor Wright, would finally outfox the older boys, beating Brent Rees by half a bike length at the end of a looooong sprint finish.
Bec Henderson would be a dominant force, riding away and building an eight-minute gap over second place. Today, it would be a battle between Sarah Tucknott and Flint, and it was a day for the locals as Tucknott would shed Flint from her wheel and come into the finish two minutes ahead of her rival.
Stage 4 | Cape Naturaliste
Taking in the best trails around Dunsborough and Meelup, the 2024 Cape to Cape finale kicked off at Wise Wines with 42km of racing and 862m of climbing on the agenda.
Taking riders up the coast at Eagle Bay for some ocean scenery, the course looped back through the Winery into the singletrack at Lot 80 and around the Golf Course in Dunsborough before the final sprint back to Wise Winery for a lovely glass of vino and a lie-down.
That same group of five elite men were driving the pace right from the word go; however, Reece Tucknott took a spill and was forced to withdraw from the race. After a gruelling 42km, Ivory would outsprint Rees to claim his second stage victory and the overall title by just under eight seconds.
Once again, nobody had an answer for Bec Henderson, who completed her clean sweep of the 2024 Cape to Cape. Flint would again occupy the second step on today’s podium, and the GC would be just over a minute behind Henderson. Local legend Sarah Tucknott would round out the top three another three seconds back on the stage, maintaining her bronze on the general classification.
Mark your calendars because Cape to Cape will be back in 2025, grinning from October 16-19 and the Event Matrix tells us they are exploring new initiatives, trails and courses for the 17th edition of the race.
Photos: Daniela Tommasi Photography / @daniela_tommasi_photography