Sports

The latest news from Sydney-based photographer Richard McGibbon as he travels up and down the East coast of Australia covering athletes on adventures and high-action sports events and races.

Apr

2014

Cam’s Jam 2014

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being invited to Cam’s Hillside Dirt Jam. This is BMX dirt jumping at its finest, with some of the best riders around.

Cam White has built up a bunch of big dirt jumps on his land. These are amongst the biggest, if not the biggest, in Australia. Every year, he hosts an invitation-only event, bringing some of the best riders Australia has and a few from overseas. This year, the big overseas name was Mike Hucker Clark, who, prior to the event, took it upon himself to capture a very irate tiger snake (crazy American).

Wind delayed the day’s events, and for a while, it looked like they might have to be postponed, but it dropped off in the afternoon, and things got underway. First through the set was Danny Campbell, but it wasn’t long before others followed suit, and soon, straight airs progressed into some of the wildest tricks I have seen on bikes before. Not being too good with trick names, I’m afraid I can’t tell you even a quarter of what they were doing.

Fuel TV was there to film the events and had their own photographers, so my presence was purely to watch and hang out. I found a nice spot to sit and relax and fired off a few shots while watching the day’s events unfold. Festivities continued late into the night.

A big thanks has to go to Born To Ride Freestyle for setting things up for me. If you like your BMX, swing by his page and check it out.

Below is the highlights gallery and the preview for the Fuel Tv show.

Apr

2014

Greenvalleys and X-up Promo

This weekend just past I went down to Greenvalleys Mountain Bike Park to shoot a few promotional shots and check the course out for the upcoming Xup Australia’s Freeride Festival. The guys from Red Bull brought their cool dj machine down and the fellows from Grip Industries swung by but rain got the better of the day and heavy downpours made everything a washout. By the time the rain had stopped, it was pretty much too muddy and slippery to do any riding. The best I could do was send the guys through a puddle. Such is the way of outdoor shoots, they are all weather-dependent.

Apr

2014

Shimano GP, Round 1, Awaba

And it’s on again. After previously being rain delayed the first round of Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Shimano Gp got underway at Awaba last weekend. Rain had threatened with delaying the race again but the weather cleared up and although there was a couple of puddles the majority of the track had dried sufficiently beforehand. I headed up again with Gil to shoot for our project, OuterImage.

It was a great day with a few clouds around which kept the heat down. The clouds make it great for photography as the contrast levels are right down and we are able to control the lighting much easier. Awaba is one of those great track where you can walk 50m and find a new angle with some great shots. I covered the final section of the track while Gil headed off to cover the start and middle section. To mix it up and give it a new feel Rocky Trail decided to run the course in reverse to what it would normally be. As far as photography goes this basically means it’s a whole new track for us to shoot as everything becomes different.

There was quite a few familiar faces out on the course but also plenty of fresh ones. In the end it was Andrew Lloyd who took the honours in the male elite category 7hr and Kirby Knowles in the Female Elite 7hrs.

Mar

2014

Australian Gravity Enduro Rnd. 1: Glenworth Valley

A new track and a new race circuit. Gil and I were there to cover it all under the guise of OuterImage.

The Australian Gravity Enduro Series kicked off the season with it’s inaugural race at Glenworth Valley one misty morning. The Gravity Enduro is a combination race of technical downhill and rolling single track enduro sections. Gil took the top half of the track, taking the bus up and walking down while I started at the bottom and headed up. Gil’s walk took him through scrubland along the rolling track where competitors had to pedal hard to keep their speed up. Whilst my walk took me through mosquito infested forests and up what was the downhill section. This technical section of track, tight, rocky and steep, got the better of many competitors throwing them from their bikes and although there was a few who had to pull out of the race the injuries were minimal. I have never seen so many mosquitoes as I saw there and despite splashing on the Aeroguard I still got destroyed. Note to self: Next time I have to shoot there pack a chameleon or some other mosquito eating creature in the bag.

Elite male was dominated by Victorian Dan MacMunn while the Elite Female fell to Sydneysider Genevieve McKew.

The series continues next in Victoria before heading out to South Australia, across to Western Australia, back his way to Stromlo in the ACT before finishing up later in the year at Cairns in the Queensland. Definitely something to watch out for when it comes your way.

If you are interested in riding this track at Glenworth Valley you will have to wait until the Rollercoaster event hits it later in the year as it will be closed between now and then.

Mar

2014

National Downhill Series Rnd 3 – Thredbo

A couple of weeks ago saw me make the trek down through NSW’s beautiful high country to cover the final round of the National Downhill Series at Thredbo. It was certainly a great event set in awesome scenery. The Elite Male series was taken out by Troy Brosnan and the Elite Female series by Michelle Crisp.

Below are a few shots from the weekend’s festivities.

Feb

2014

AMB 100, Mt. Stromlo

It’s been awhile but I’m back from my Christmas break. I have been working on personal projects over the preceding period (which, surprise surprise, does include MTB photography amongst other things).

But now the race season has kicked off and I’m back at it with Gilbert Romane and our team effort, OuterImage. First up was the AMB 100 put on by Australian Mountain Bike and Rocky Trail Entertainment. What a scorcher. Knowing that temperatures were supposed to climb over the course of the day Rocky Trail decided to bring the start forward an hour making the 100 milers start at 5.00am and the rest start at 8.00am. This provided some great opportunities for Gil and I to get some great shots in the beautiful early morning light and kept things a bit cooler for the riders.

We have shot at Stromlo before but Gil and I both wanted to find some new locations and keep things fresh. The track was 25kms long much longer than the 10km track used for the enduro so there was plenty of new spots for us to choose from. Gil scouted locations the day before and picked some fine spots for us.

As the day progressed the heat played a definite factor. At 1.00pm they closed the track. Most everyone who had set out to do their laps had finished and only a few stragglers struggled on in the heat. By the end of the race the temperature had soared to 39C and it was good to come off the mountain and find some shade.