The Redback
How to Escape Winter 2019 and Chase the Sun on Two Wheels
Press Release / 07.02.2019
The award-winning Redback MTB stage race will be back bigger than ever in Alice Springs in 2019. The race with 4-days and 6-stages of mountain biking comes with an all NEW Stage 1 course.
Mountain bikers from across Australia will race kilometres of handmade single-track surrounding Alice Springs. All the action begins Thursday 22nd August with a new Stage 1 course and finishes on Sunday 25th August.
The race has become known for having the ‘most simple race logistics’ of any multi-stage mountain bike race in Australia. Riders can start and finish in Alice Springs without having to book multiple hotel rooms or camping sites.
The event is, “all about racing some good miles on your bike and then kicking back around the pool with new and old friends afterwards”, says Sam Maffett, General Manager of Rapid Ascent.
New for 2019 is an opening stage of 35km that thunders through Alice Springs’ famed single tracks in the “West Side’ area. After some fast sections of double track to spread the crowd out, the route narrows to single track as riders climb up to "the aerials". With almost ‘too much single track’, stage 1 sets the scene for a great weekend of riding.
“The trails surrounding Alice Springs are like nothing else in Australia. Anyone who rides the Red Centre for the first time is blown away by the quality and quantity of the trails. The network of hand built single track that weaves its way through this incredible outback landscape is endless,” says John Jacoby, founder of Rapid Ascent.
First held in 2008, the race celebrates its 12th anniversary in 2019. Many riders consider the race a dream mountain-bike holiday with riders travelling to the Red Centre for a mid-winter escape. The comradery with forged with fellow riders is unmatched.
“Mountain biking definitely brings people together - you could see it after every stage where people would be comparing stories from the day's adventures out on the trails. This then carried over to the pool, dinner the airport and beyond,” said Event Ambassador, James Downing after Redback event.
The Redback has been designed to be fun and achievable for riders of all abilities. But riders up the front in 2018 included some of Australia’s best: Jarrod Moroni and former professional road cyclists Justin Morris, Ben Henderson and Kristen Gadson, among others.
For more information about The Redback 2019 please visit www.TheRedback.com.au.
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