Smithfield sits about 20km north of the CBD of Cairns, right at the bottom of the road up to Kuranda. It’s just inland from the beautiful Trinity Beach, and also home to James Cook University. Smithfield is one part of Tropical North Queensland that the infamous Mud Cows called home. Wait – the Mud Cows? […]
Training in the Tropics – Atherton
Related Event: Crocodile Trophy
Photos of our riding in Atherton by Robert Conroy – unless stated otherwise. The beautiful, unique and welcoming town of Atherton lies approximately a 90 minute drive inland and uphill from Cairns in the beautiful Tropical North Queensland region. It was set to be our first port of call on our Tropical Training Camp. The area is […]
Training in Tropical North Queensland
With the first round of the 2016 XCO World Cup landing in Cairns on the 24th April, a plan was hatched earlier this year to head up to Tropical North Queensland to support our XCO racer, Sebastian Jayne, on race day and then get a few good days of training in the legs too. Taking a […]
Crunching the Convict – racing by numbers
Related Event: Convict 100
In 2005, XCM as we know it today wasn’t really a thing. There certainly wasn’t any XCM series, and people participated in 100-kilometre races because 100 is a nice round number and they were looking for a challenge. The Convict 100, or Dirtworks 100 as it was known then, was a pretty radical idea. Someone […]
BC Bike Race celebrate 10 years
Related Event: BC Bike Race
It is now a decade since the BC Bike Race began, firmly planting itself onto the international stage race calendar with its unique blend of trails, community, racing – and smiles. The people behind the race, from the trail builders, communities, clubs, logistics crew and more have poured in countless hours of work and passion to make […]
Who can win the 2016 Absa Cape Epic?
The 2016 Absa Cape Epic is just moments away. Social media feeds have been full of photos and updates from professionals and amateurs the world over, preparing for the challenge of 8 days racing across the Western Cape. As it’s an Olympic year, the race takes on a slightly different shape. Some Olympic hopefuls will […]
Team dynamics in Toowoomba
On the first weekend of March, the final round of the Subaru MTBA National Series was run in Toowoomba, about an hour and a half inland of Brisbane, in Queensland. With four riders spread over 3 states on the Subaru-MarathonMTB.COM Team for 2016, it’s pretty rare that paths cross many times through the year, given […]
Escaping the Winter Wonderland
Around this time last year, I wrote an article on what training in winter looks like for those in the Northern Hemisphere. Not that I’ve had to endure such hardships, although it did get a little windy the other day. I spoke of skiing as one alternative to riding that could tick some pre-season goals […]
The beauty of pairs racing
It takes Two to Tango… Pairs Racing Marathon racing is in decline in Australia. Make no bones about it. No matter how many cries of ‘there are just more races out there, so numbers are diluted’ I hear, the simple facts are that fewer people are attending marathon races – regardless of reason and when […]
Who could win the Giant Odyssey?
Related Event: Giant Odyssey
The Giant Odyssey (formerly Otway Odyssey) will be celebrating 10 years of running one of the premier XCM races in Australia next Saturday (February 20). As one of the pioneer events of marathon mountain biking in Australia the event has earned a reputation as a difficult, epic, hard man/woman yet enjoyable marathon event. The race […]