Bright

Dec

2016

B24, Base in Bright

Once again the Thule B24 has rolled around put on by Base in Bright down at the beautiful little Victorian town of Bright. Nestled in the Victorian Alps Bright is set up for the biker with trails running everywhere to suit all levels of skill.

The threat of rain kept the numbers lower than expected but considering the forecast the turnout was great and certainly not a the small race it was when it kicked off 4 years ago. The weekend started out at the Bright Brewery with a track stand contest and a few beers while metres away people were casting flies into the water to chase the trout.

Saturday lunch saw the race get underway. First out were the solo racers then followed 15 mins later by the esprit d’ corps category. I shot a bit along the river then headed out to the new section of track called Tombstone. By all reports this super-flowy section went down a treat and everyone who came down were all smiles. Basically though, all the track was new as the course had been reversed this year to accommodated taking in Tombstone.

Early Sunday morning around 1am, I had just about dozed off in the back of my car when the sky lit up and the heavens opened with a bang as a thunderstorm rolled in. I felt pity for those still slogging it through the night. Some pretty torrential rain fell over night but by morning it had eased back a bit. A constant rain fell through the sunday at times becoming heavy again. I was rather helpless as first my lenses started to mist and then I saw moisture forming inside the camera itself. Not much to do but keep shooting anyway.

By the end of the races those who were still out on track came back plastered with mud but still the smiles would not leave them. I have long wanted to shoot a few portraits after a muddy race like that and I got more than my fair share of mud-encrusted faces after the race finished up

Sam Moffitt took the win with his first 24hr victory and Courtney Henry took the win in the female solo category with her 3rd ever mtb race.

If you have an event that you would like covered swing on over to Outer Image and touch base with us so we can work out how best to suit your needs

: Fly fishing on the Ovens River in Bright

: Overlooking Bright

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: Inside the great marquee

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: Night on the pumptrack

: Cruising Angel Alley

: Early morning light

: Down by the river

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: Solo Female winner Courtney Henry

: All mud and smiles

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: Sam Moffitt, the Solo Male Winner

: The Thule B24 mountain bike race in the Victorian Alps around Bright

: Empty Trails of the next day

: Rain in the mountains

Oct

2014

Thule B24 in Bright, Victoria

Once again Gil and I hit the road as OuterImage, this time making our way down to the Victorian Alps. It was time for the Thule B24 enduro at Bright. It’s the second year it has been running and word is getting around about the 24hr race and it’s trails, numbers were up on last year and this year almost 300 competitors registered for the race.

Gil and I arrived on the Thursday evening and scouted the course on the Friday. Although mainly the same course as last year there was a couple of changes to add in more single-track. The track runs out along the river before heading up into the pine forests on the mountainside above Bright. It dips into the pines of Treehugger before the return downhill through a flowing section called Gorilla Warfare and back out to run along the river again. Over the nights we stayed at some great lookout points in the surrounding mountains and rose early to catch sunrise photos.

Race day saw temperatures up into the 30’s and a few people dropping out for a few hours until things cooled again heading into the evening. Many soldiered on though and continued knocking out the laps. As night fell so too did the temperature though not to the same biting chill like the previous year. Lights came on but Gil and I continued to shoot into the night. Eventually Gil and I called it a night.

As Sunday dawned we got back into the shooting in some beautiful mountain light. As the sun rose and the temperature climbed again I made my way deeper into cooling shade of the trees around the river. As the temperature rose even further I actually made my way into the river and cooled down a bit whilst standing knee deep and shooting from there. I wasn’t alone as the race neared completion more and more competitors who had made their final run came down to cool off.

A huge congratulations to all those who competed and a big thank you from Gil and I to all those who helped organise such a wonderful event. Already looking forward to the next one.

Oct

2013

Thule B24 Mountain Bike Race

Last weekend Gil and I travelled down to Bright, in Victoria, Australia to cover our first 24hr race under the guise of Outer Image, the Thule B24 enduro. This was our first 24hr race together and it was certainly a lot of fun. The trip down was an adventure in itself as we were detoured due to bushfires then another due to a nasty crash which together put us about 6 hours of course (always good to take the scenic route though). We arrived in Bright midday on Friday and quickly set to walking the track and finding our locations. Bright is a mountain bikers paradise with mountains all around and trails weaving up and through the forest everywhere. It certainly was not hard to pick our location, the problem was more what locations would we not have time for.

The organisers added a new category called the Esprit De Corps. I haven’t seen this in MTB races before but I imagine that we will be seeing it a bit more in the future. It added a more social aspect to team riding. Your team needed to complete a certain amount of laps over the course of 24 hours but you had the option of all riding as a group. So if you were in a team of 6 and you do a lap with all team riders it actually counts as 6 laps.

The race kicked off at 12 on Saturday. It was quite a long weekend but well worth it. Probably not as long for us as it was for the riders though. We shot well into the night and were up again and into it before dawn. In the last couple of hours things became rather hectic again as all the riders crammed in the last few laps. The smiles which had faded in the early hours of the morning were back too with some riders even going past me giggling Delirious or just very happy I wasn’t quite sure which)

All in all a great weekend away. I will be heading back down to Bright in a few weeks and I’m looking forward to it already. I have a few plans in the making.

Oh and just in case you were wondering, the winner of the solo category was Shane Roberts who completed 22 laps or around 374kms.