Mount Gambier is set to host the final round of the Inside Line Mountain Bike Club series this weekend.
More than 250 competitors from across SA and Victoria will converge on the Blue Lake city to take on the Crater Lakes Madzos course.
Organisers have had to mark out an alternative run following damage to the preferred track which occurred during this year’s Crater Lakes fire.
However, Mount Gambier Mountain Bike Club president Shane de Jong said, while the Madzos course was not the most difficult in the series, it would still make for great racing.
“Traditionally downhill is pretty technical, it’s the F1 of bike riding, it’s fast and flat out and this course is about 90 seconds long,” he said.
“It’s technical, you have got to ride and pick a line through various features of rocks, roots, jumps and pick a line through the corner … effectively it relies on not braking but need to be smart and brake where you need.”
De Jong said this Mount Gambier course was not as tough as others held across the state, predominantly in the greater Adelaide area.
“In the series it’s one of the easier ones, we’d usually be riding a different track down from Centenary tower but due to damage caused by this year’s fire we have had to have a bit of a downgrade, but it’s good have an event regardless,” he said.
“This race will decide the winner of the series, which has been raced mainly in and around Adelaide during the year.
“We have got a fair few local competitors taking part, I think about 12, so it should be a good turn out from the locals.
“There will be good representations across the different classes.”
De Jong said this weekend’s event would include practice runs on the Saturday, followed by a charity downhill run.
The racing will start in earnest on Sunday, spread across 13 categories ranging from under 13 to super masters and elite.
Spectators are welcome to join the action from Haig Drive in the Valley Lakes, where a bike village will be established complete with catering.
“We’d like to thank the Mount Gambier City Council for allowing us to use the tracks and giving us a fair bit of support, we hope that we can keep generating interest locally not only for the event but for mountain biking in general,” de Jong said.
“We aim to bring to people to Mount Gambier every weekend, it will be amazing to see so many bikes in town for this event, with 250 riders it’s pretty much capped out.
“It would be good to get people here every weekend to enjoy family-friendly trails and to get some support for signage.”
