After a bumper year in Thredbo, hitched onto the Cannonball Mountain Bike Festival in 2023, the AusCycling MTB Nationals roadshow is headed for Lake Macquarie. Awaba will play host to the 2024 GWM National Championships, covering off XCO, short track, XC relay, pump track, e-MTB and adaptive categories.
The Hunter Mountain Bike Association has been hard at work primping and prepping the trail network for the nation’s best riders, and also have a few new additions up their sleeve. And with junior, masters and expert categories, Nationals at Awaba isn’t just for the elites.
Related:
With so much packed into five days of racing, we caught up with AusCycling Mountain Bike Events Operation Manager Ian Harwood to find out what’s in store for this year’s National Championships.
XC whippets assemble
With pretty much every category bar XC Marathon taking place at Awaba, there is plenty of racing on tap for the speedy climbers to get amped about.
Despite our prodding, Harwood told Flow that the course would not be released until practice starts on Wednesday, March 13, in an effort to keep it fair so that nobody can go out and start picking their lines now. The race itself will close out the weekend on Sunday, March 17.
He did share that the lap would be 5.1km, with 107m of climbing. The elevation profile shows there are three significant climbs, with the second being the largest, and a few little pinches to get the lungs burning.
“We’ll also be using some of the new trails the club has been busy cutting,” says Harwood.
“There is also going to be a really interesting start loop, where they’ll go from the start line and actually run straight through the expo space — so it will be like, ‘hello, everyone, stand back.’ It will be great for the spectators,” he says.
Harwood says the entries are still rolling in, but he expects quite a few folks will leave it to the last minute. But of the entries so far, Bec Henderson will be back to try for her eleventh national champs, but it won’t be easy. Zoe Cuthbert stepped up from U23 to elites this year, and Peta Mullens is an ever-present threat in the tape. Jared Graves will throw his hat in the ring on the Men’s side, with Scott Bowden and Chris Aitken vying for the jersey.
Harwood was equally cagey about the route for the XCC, which will run on March 15. He noted that it would be a super punchy loop, complete with the spectator-friendly start loop.
E-Bikes are racing at Awaba too
E-Bike Nationals is an e-XC and is set to run on Thursday, March 14. Harwood says it’s going to be very similar to the XCO course that is still under wraps.
“It may end up with a couple of little power climb additions, but it is basically the same course,” he says.
As for the XCR (XC Relay), it’s not an event that’s really raced outside of National Championships and World Champs. Making this a bit more confusing, even if you’re on the team that wins at Awaba, you aren’t guaranteed a spot in the XCR at Worlds in Andorra — because the relay team will be made of folks who make the selection for the World Champs team.
Harwood says they are still working on the course as he has a personal goal to sharpen this category up and make it more exciting both for the people racing and the spectators.
“Rather than make it the full XC course, I’m pushing to use the XCC route and make it short and sharp. But, (given it’s one of the first events, scheduled for March 14) the commissars really like it as a way of gauging lap times, so there is a practical use for it,” he says.
Leaving a legacy for adaptive riders
The big news for the 2024 National Champs is that adaptive riders will have the chance to earn a green and gold jersey in both the downhill on March 13 and XC on March 14 on their own course.
“Both the XC and Downhill will have their own adaptive track,” says Harwood. “A big part of the legacy of us going there (to Awaba) is we’re contributing to the club to help with their trail building. A lot of that is going towards adaptive trails, and the legacy of this is that there is going to be heaps of adaptive riding at Awaba,” says Harwood.
Pump Track
With the Pump Track National Champs on the calendar for March 13, there is a notable absence of a pump track at Awaba.
Fortunately, the Lake Macquarie Council opened a new pump track, designed and constructed by Velo Solutions, mid-last year.
“It’s literally overlooking Redhead Beach and the surf club. It’s a really tight short track, so the racing is going to be really close,” says Harwood.
By all accounts, since it’s open, the pump track is teaming with bikes, kids on scooters and parents on hybrids enjoying the idyllic spot near the beach. And to capitalise on the fact that it’s pumping every day even when there is not a National Champs jersey up for grabs, AusCycling is putting on a DJ and activations from event partners to keep spectators engaged.
Downhill
Monkey is one of the most storied downhills in the country. It’s where riders like Jack Moir learned their chops and has pushed some of the best gravity riders in Australia to their limit over the years. And on Saturday, March 17, it will be back in all its glory, this time with a green and gold jersey on the line.
“I was talking with the Track Coordinator, and he has some interesting ideas on where the tape will go. So it will be taped a little bit creatively, but it’s effectively the main track. The club has been doing a lot of work on it, and it’s looking really good,” he says.
Harwood tells us that the elite men’s downhill will be a star-studded affair with basically every big-name rider signed up to race, including Troy Brosnan, Luke Meyer-Smith and Connor Fearon. In the women’s field, Sian A’Hern, Ellie Smith and newly signed Scott Factory shredder Sacha Mills will all be fronting up to race.
Getting to Awaba
Situated in the Lake Macquarie Hinterland, Awaba Mountain Bike Park is a 90 minute drive from Sydney and 50 minutes on the road from Newcastle.
Newcastle is the closest airport, with daily flights to and from Adelaide, Ballina/Byron, Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra, Cobar, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sunshine Coast, Sydney and the Whitsundays Coast and there are rental cars available.
How do you enter?
With the event closing quickly, entries are open and will close on Wednesday, March 7. Entries are filling fast, so if giddy up, head over to the AusCycling website for more info.
Photos: Matt Rousu / AusCycling, Flow MTB