Ten years of Cannonball, can you believe it! With thousands of race runs logged on the infamous Cannonball Downhill, massive whips thrown over a cheering crowd and countless rugs cut on the dance floor, the party on two wheels is back for another year — with some new tricks up its sleeve to celebrate double digits.
Scheduled for 12-17 February, this year’s Cannonball MTB Festival, presented by Boost Mobile, will double as Round 2 of the AusCycling DH National Series.
With $130,000 AUD in cash and prizes and some of the best gravity trails in the country, there is sure to be a stacked field. International riders Jackson Goldstone, Nina Hoffman, Steve Peat, Amaury Pierrion, Myriam Nicole, Dylan Maples, Vali Hoell and Kasper Wooley will be making appearances alongside local legends like Jack Moir, Troy Brosnan, Connor Fearon, both A’Herns and the Meier-Smith Brothers, Caroline Buchannan and more. This is going to be one star-studded festival!
Cannonball is always a hoot whether you’re racing or spectating, here’s what you can expect from the week.
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Dual Slalom and Nationals DH
In addition to the returning classics, new for 2024 is the Maxxis Dual Slalom. Scheduled to run on Friday, riders will be pit against one another on a brand-new course feeding into Friday Flat.
“We are throwing it back old school for the Maxxis Dual Slalom and like to think of it more of a “grass drift slalom”. Taking a laid-back approach to the course build, the course utilises the Friday Flat natural amphitheatre and will feature off-camber grass turns top to bottom! The event will have a heavy emphasis on “foot out, flat out”. The course will be as far from a descending pump track that you see at Crankworx or Sea Otter as you can get. The course and gates will be designed and installed by our team here in Thredbo and will be about 300m long with around 10-15 turns. We are hoping for some ruts to form with plenty of thrills and spills to be had,” says Thredbo MTB Business & Mountain Events Manager, Tim Windshuttle.
Qualifying will take place on Friday morning, with the fastest folks this side of Cooma to set off in the afternoon for some head-to-head racing action.
Last year, Cannonball hosted the Aus Cycling National Champs — including XC. While the venue for 2024 has been moved to Awaba, Cannonball has still snagged the duties for the second round of the AusCycling National Series.
The festival’s namesake, the Cannonball Downhill, will again be the venue for the Oakley Australian Open Downhill. The course for 2024 will include the upper fire road, meaning riders will have hit warp speed by the time they hit the jumps and the first rock garden.
Windshuttle also tells Flow that a lot of sections of trail used for the event, including the Cannonball DH, will be refurbished prior to the festival.
“Last year we saw some huge changes to the Cannonball DH and 2024 will be no different, with some slight changes making the fastest DH track in Aus even faster,” he says.
The Oakley Australian Open Downhill also boasts the biggest payday in Australian DH history.
Spots are selling quickly, and at the time of writing the U17 Men’s field already has a waitlist. Windshuttle tells us the other categories are also nearly full!
Can’t go wrong with the Cannonball classics
Of course, the accolade that everyone is chasing is to be crowned the King and Queen of Cannonball, where the riders who perform the best across the five open events are coronated as gravity royalty. Points are awarded based on where you finish in each event, and the riders with the highest score at the end of the week will score that sweet new headgear. However, there has been a slight tweak to the format of this overall competition, and it’s no longer mandatory for riders to compete in all the events to be eligible for the titles. Riders can pick and choose the events they want to do, with their results adding up towards their overall points tally.
The festival kicks off with the Osprey All-Mountain Assault, which pits racers against a 6km enduro-style track. Starting at the top of the Gunbarrell Express, the course sends folks down the All-Mountain Trail. While it’s mostly downhill, there are some sneaky pinch climbs that will sap the energy out of your legs if you get stuck in the 10T.
Wednesday and Thursday, the main event up on the hill is the Fox Flow Motion Cup. While it’s a simple race to the bottom of the 5km Kosciuszko Flow Trail, this blue-rated flowy descent is anything but a leisurely cruise through the snow gums. At race pace, trying to extract free speed from the berms and rolling traverses will require an intimate knowledge of kinetic energy and a bit of fitness to boot.
The event will be split into two groups, with Pro Men and Women, U19 Men and Women, and U17, Amatuer, and Masters 30+ Men in Group A racing on Wednesday. The remainder of the racing categories are in Group B and will race on Thursday.
On Thursday evening, the focus will shift down to the Village Green for the RockShox Pump Track Challenge finals under the lights. The dirt pump track is a masterpiece of trail sculpting, and it’s a pearler of a time whether you’re inside the barriers or watching on with a cold beverage.
Friday and Saturday, see the Dual Slalom and Cannonball DH, with the Deity Whip Wars to close out the week.
A crowd favourite, Whip Wars is an invite-only event where the steeziest riders in town get as close to 90º as possible on the super booter in the event village.
It’s not just about the racing; bring on the party vibes
With some of the biggest name riders donning number plates, the spectating (read: heckling) is sure to be top-notch, and there is still a tonne of terrain that is still open to the public each day. So even if you’re not racing bring your bike and send a few laps between the action.
With such a start-studded cast, Cannonball will be hosting a meet and greet and poster signing with the pros on Wednesday, February 14, at 5pm.
There’s also a gear show with Boost Mobile, Oakley, Fox, SRAM, Rockshox, Deity, Crankbrothers, Maxxis, Norco, Osprey, Stans, Krush, Gorpo & Balter showing off new gear, running demos and product giveaways all week. We’ve even heard whispers that there may be some brand-new bikes that will be launching at the event.
The resort hosts live music at The Alpine Bar with a lineup of local DJs spinning sets daily, with The Terrys presented by Balter Brewers on Saturday night. Fresh off a regional Australian Tour, the South Coast quintet will be blasting surf rock tunes to cap off an epic week of racing.
The concert is free and open to all ages.
For those who want to keep the party going and need to unleash some moves that haven’t already graced the dance floor, the good times keep on rolling into Keller Bar for the official after-party.
Registration for Cannonball is open now and entries are limited. Single-event and multi-event entries are available, and spaces are selling quick smart.
Photos: Nick Waygood / Thredbo