3 September 2009

Pump Track World Championships

| Kramer
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While the MTB & Trials World Champs were finishing up at Stromlo for the day, another huge mountain bike party was just kicking off. Garreth Paton is one of the owner partners of Onya Bike Civic, and also happens to have a very nice pump track in his Kambah back yard.
A pump track is a short track for mountain bikes that requires no pedaling to ride, as riders use the humps and berms (banked corners) on the track to gain momentum, like a skateboarder on a half pipe. Garreth built the track as a bit of fun last Christmas with his mate Ben Corey, who happens to be an awesome downhiller, and an even better trail builder. It took about a week for the basic construction, and the track has been tweaked and refined since then – and ridden a lot!

Pump track in action


Garreth was approached to host a photo shoot on the pump track involving a few of the international MTB riders in town for the Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships. From a simple idea it escalated into the Pump Track World Championships, with about 20 riders from across the globe and 200 spectators crammed into his backyard. As a bonus, all profits from the event were being donated to Cure For Life.

Heading into the event, UK rider Brendan Fairclough was a hot favorite, but a timing error in his final run saw him having to repeat the performance on tired legs. He still managed to walk away with a very nice surfboard as a consolation prize.

In the end it was Aussies 1-2-3, as Mick Hannah took out the event with a very slick ride, completing 6 laps of the track in 41.3 seconds. Close behind was Tim Eaton, followed by Dave MacMillan (who also scored the Local Legend award for the fastest Canberran). It was a great evening of very impressive riding, and I’m sure all the lucky people from the mountain bike community who managed to snare a ticket had an excellent time… except maybe the photographer who had a naked drunk guy fall on him while running a lap of the course (check the slide show below).

Here’s some video of the top riders in action, just so you can see how good they are (remember they are not pedaling at all!).

Meanwhile at Mt Stromlo today in the cross country, Poland’s Aleksandra Dawidowicz scored the rainbow jersey for the under 23 women, and France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot won the under 19 women. Canberra’s own Rebecca Henderson did us very proud today, coming in seventh in the under 19 women.UPDATE
Don’t forget today (Thursday) is the last day for free entry at Stromlo. Under 19 men will be hammering around the XC course, and 4X qualifying will be on from 4pm.

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Clown Killer said :

For those not in the know, riders like Steve Peat and Brendan Fairclough are the equivalent of the Ricky Pontings and Ussain Bolts of their respective sports.

I’m getting old now. I can remember when Steve Pete was tagged as a rider to watch – possibly world cup material one day.

steve is always a rider to watch,you must be really old mate.

stonedwookie7:58 pm 03 Sep 09

This is awesome so cool 2 have a track like that in your backyard.
Congrats on the event

The Ponting/Bolt analogy is one of the biggest stretches I’ve ever read, but the Pump Champs looked awesome. Looking forward to Stromlo on the weekend

kean van choc5:35 pm 03 Sep 09

That pump track is awesome – thanks heaps for sharing the video. I can’t wait to get out to Stromlo this weekend to check out the action.

Nice coverage Kramer. Didn’t see you cutting a lap in the finals.

Great event and kudos to Gaz for putting it all together.

Clown Killer1:40 pm 03 Sep 09

For those not in the know, riders like Steve Peat and Brendan Fairclough are the equivalent of the Ricky Pontings and Ussain Bolts of their respective sports.

I’m getting old now. I can remember when Steve Pete was tagged as a rider to watch – possibly world cup material one day.

Downhill training is on most of the day, with riders regularly moving down the mountain.
The under 19 mens XC race should be finishing up about now.
Training for 4X starts at 2pm, with qualifying at 4pm, and further training under lights from 5:30pm.

So is anything happening out there today before 4PM?

What other world championships happens without any sort of website or online timetable?

Me too busgirl! I was out walking and heard them calling out on their loudspeaker for people to come along, but I had bubba so didn’t take them up on their offers of free BBQs. I also heard they were trying to break a world record (didn’t catch what for). From the cheers they must have made it.

I was wondering what all the hoohaa was as I was taking my dog for a walk yesterday evening…yes, we may be the boganiest suburb in Canberra but tell me…which other suburb has ever hosted the Pump Track World Championships. Rock on Kambah!!!

For those not in the know, riders like Steve Peat and Brendan Fairclough are the equivalent of the Ricky Pontings and Ussain Bolts of their respective sports.

It’s great that these guys here for the most important race of the year are happy to have some fun with the locals. Ain’t too many sports where that happens.

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