The World's Toughest Freeride Mountain Bike Course

Just Got Tougher in Jindabyne

By late January, neighbourhoods across Australia begin to grow quiet as children start to get the knack of riding their Christmas bikes and stop picking bitumen from their bloodied knees. But not in Jindabyne. For in the scorching heat of the New South Wales Snowy Mountains, January 19-24 sees the world's best riders come together to take on the new, groundbreaking, toughest freeride mountain bike course ever created.

In 2002, the inaugural Red Bull Ride pitted 25 international riders from nine countries against a kilometre-long track that dropped 300 vertical metres from start to finish.

This January, that course has been abandoned in favour of something harder: The new track is longer and more spectacular, with a 30-foot vertical drop, a 45-foot step down gap, rhythm jumps, wall rides and a sled saw - a giant moving see-saw on rails that's never been seen before in mountain biking. Thirteen ultra-technical sections of scaffolding, dirt and rock make up a brand new course down the steep and Spartan slopes of the summertime NSW ski fields.

The new course has got a whole lot of street style urban features, like stunts, and a mix of natural rocky terrain similar to last year," says course co-designer Mike Atkins. "They're gonna get tested, let me tell you!"

The AUD$15,000 event is a two-day invitation-only freeride mountain biking competition that will showcase 27 of the world's best and most unhinged competitors and free riders.

There's no stopwatch; 11 judges will base their scoring criteria on technique, control, fluidity and overall impression. There are no 'soft' options, as riders either take on a choice of difficult technical lines through a section, or ride around an obstacle completely (aka the "chicken" line).

Normally sleepy Jindabyne is the gateway to the winter time ski fields of the Snowy Mountains, and a stopping point on the way to Mt. Kosciuszko (2,228m), Australia's highest peak. Jindabyne was relocated in the 1960s, when the original town was swallowed by the world famous hydro-electric scheme, built largely by new European migrants during Australia's post war boom.

Red Bull Ride 2003 Competitor List

As of 14 January 2003

1st Place
$6000

2nd Place
$3000

3rd Place
$2000

4th Place
$1500

5th Place
$1000

Best Crash
$250

Best Come Back
$250

Best of luck next year
$250

Jinxed
$250

Best performance - but not in the money
$250

The unexpected
$250

For further media information, please contact:

Matt Braybon on +61 (0)412 047 065 or Linda Critchlow on +61 (0)414 782 416