After a successful kickoff in Tassie with The Wild Penguin, the Quad Crown is rolling into Queensland for its second stop, The Sunny 80, from June 9-11.
Taking to the trails on the Sunshine Coast, the Quad Crown is looking to build on the success of its first event, course guru Liam McGuire gave us a sneak peek at what he’s cooked up in the land of XXXX and beautiful beaches.
See what you missed at the first stop of the Quad Crown, The Wild Penguin
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Prelude | Sugarbag Road | 10km
The first stop of The Sunny 80 will be a 10km rip around the trails at Sugarbag Road near Caloundra.
The prelude is the rider versus the clock and is used to seed the starting waves for the next day. It also creates the baseline for the Warrior Crown. Here a rider’s average speed is tracked, and the individuals who show the most improvement through the race are crowned King and Queen.
McGuire tells Flow that for the locals who are familiar with Sugarbag, the prelude course will be familiar, as it takes in an extremely popular route that links just about every trail together without hitting anything twice.
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“We’ve aimed to hit all the best tracks there. There’s one called Syrup that’s really good, then there’s Willy Wonka, Party Mix and Sweet Sugar, to name a few,” he says. “Syrup will definitely be the highlight. The rest (of the course) is old-fashioned singletrack. Whereas Syrup, you come into that, and it’s machine built, big berms and flow track right in the middle of the stage — it’ll be pretty nice.”
Sugarbag is arguably best known for its wooden features. Some are a bit much to expect folks to hit completely blind and at race pace, however, McGuire says some of the more XC-appropriate wooden features do make an appearance.
They expect the elite riders to set times below the 30 min mark on the 10km loop, while it could take as long as 35min for the punters.
Once you’ve had time to de-dust your shins and ditch your bib shorts, The Sunny 80 welcome event is at Moffat Beach Brewing Co, conveniently located about a kilometre as the crow flies from the trailhead.
Stage 1 | Parklands | 32km
Set to host the 2032 Olympics, Parklands is best known for its narrow, rough and technical riding. And while this first stage is only 32km, McGuire tells us it’s going to feel more like 50km.
Starting and finishing on the north side of the park at Hidden Valley @ Gro Mad Plantations, the stage kicks off with 400-500m climbing before sending folks into the trail network.
“Then it’s straight into one of the best singletrack sections in the park called Lush. It’s a green-level trail and is really popular with local families. But for good riders, it’s really fast and fun,” says McGuire.
Then it’s back out onto fire trails for about 4km to allow for passing and alleviate any traffic jams on the way to the far side of the park.
“When we get back into the singletrack, it’s onto a section called Hoe Chi Ho, and from there, it’s onto Road Rage,” says McGuire. “Hoe Chi Ho is a really fun trail, but Road Rage, particularly when you can carry speed over roots and rock gardens; it’s really challenging but really rewarding.”
The second half of the course is almost entirely on singletrack, and McGuire tells Flow it takes in an interesting mix of rugged, loose and challenging trail, mated to fast machine-built singletrack.
This will be an extremely physical stage, and is likely to be won or lost on the climb out of Road Rage.
“Especially when you come to the end of Road Rage, and you climb back up before crossing (onto a trail called) Cancer Tree, when fatigue starts to set in, there are some really techy, sharp climbs and tight switchbacks,” McGuire says.
The last 2km of the course on is back on fire roads, complete with some nasty pinch climbs. So if there are any groups together, you can expect fireworks.
McGuire expects the stage through Parklands to take the elites about two hours, and close to three hours for the remainder of the field.
For the rehydration and recovery session after stage one, the event will head down to Black Flag Brewing, which is only a few hundred metres from Mooloolaba Beach, so don’t forget to bring your togs and go for a dip.
Stage 2 | Ewen Maddock Dam and Ferny Forest, 37km
For the final stage, riders will head south from Parklands, for 37km around Ewen Maddock Dam and Ferny Forest.
Kicking off from the western side of the Dam at the Mooloolah Country Club, the stage rolls out with a neutral start along Connection Road, through the central business area of Mooloolah and into Dularcha National Park.
“Within about the first 1.5km, we let them go (and the racing starts) through an old (94m long) disused railway tunnel,” says McGuire.
The course then sends riders for a loop through Dularcha National Park before coming back over the top of the tunnel. It’s a solid climb designed to break up the field before bombing down the other side into Maddock Park.
“That whole next section is flat, fast double track. It will be hectic with people flying around there, through blind corners, sticks flying everywhere — it will be really fast,” he says.
After a short liaison on Steve Irwin Way, it’s into the Ferny Forest Loop. McGuire tells us they’ve had to modify the loop slightly, slotting in bits of fire trail not to backtrack and exit on the far side of the park towards the Country Club.
“Ferny Forest has great views of the dam, and there are some really fun fast sections. It’s mostly a green trail, but for strong riders, it’s still challenging to ride fast and maintain your speed,” he says. “We exit on the fire trail and then onto Connection Road — we’ve actually got one lane closed so that we can ride along that back to the Start/Finish area,” he says.
McGuire expects the leaders to be back at the Country Club in about 90min with the remainder of the field coming in well under the three-hour mark.
Like The Wild Penguin, the presentations and post-event refreshments will take place at the Start/Finish at the Mooloolah Country Club. It’s a full-on sporting complex, so there are facilities for showers and bike washing, in addition to food, drinks and good times and the coronation of the latest Quad Crown Warrior King and Queen.
Tim Eagling, the King of The Wild Penguin, tells Flow he’s balancing full-time work and a young family along with racing, but is hoping a few things slot into place so he can defend his post.
“I’ve never actually been to Queensland before, so what better way to see the place under race conditions, defending the crown,” he says.
The Sunny 80 lands on the Sunshine Coast June 9-11. Registration is open now. Head over to the Quad Crown website to book your spot.