Canberra

Oct

2014

Redass Downhill, Round 4: Stromlo

The weekend gone saw Gil and I, under the guise of OuterImage, make the trip down to Canberra to cover the final round of the Redass State Downhill at Mount Stromlo Forest Park and put on by Rocky Trail Entertainment.

It’s the first time I have shot downhill racing at Stromlo. Gil and I started at the top then leapfrogged our way down. It can be hard to shoot at Stromlo as the light becomes quite harsh through the day and race day was no exception. Bright blue skies and a glaring sun kicked up some harsh shadows on the course. During times like this, you really need to pick the location well and let the rider ride through a sun patch or use flashes to lift them out of the shadows. The track was dry and dusty which can make for some great shots though as the dust gets thrown up and can really add a sense of movement to the shots.

There are some great features on the course including the Rock Garden, G20, Road Gap and Triple Treat. Unfortunately they also took a toll on the riders this time round. Perhaps as it was the final round the riders put that extra bit into the race and pushed themselves just a bit too far. The dust also can be rather treacherous for the riders taking away from the grip of the tyres.

All in all, it was a great finish to a great season. There are a few smaller races to coming but the next big one will be the Cannonball at Thredbo again. Hope to see you all there.

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.

Sep

2013

Shimano MTB GP 5 – Stromlo

Last weekend was the final round of this year’s Shimano GP enduro series held on the wonderful trails of Mount Stromlo Forest Park near Canberra. Again I was there with OuterImage to capture the action. There was forecast for rain but once again the weather held and we had beautiful clear skies. That did mean the track was a bit dusty for the riders but it did give us the chance for some interesting shots.

Stromlo Forest Park is situated on the side of Mount Stromlo near Canberra. There is some beautiful trails there. Some years ago the area was destroyed by a fire which burnt most of the trees to the ground. A massive replanting program has since happened and slowly the area is regaining a lot of its trees. With the trees being quite small though views around the trails can be wonderful looking out across the surrounds and across Canberra.

Over 300 competitors competed this year at the Stromlo event and after shooting the whole series I recognised many familiar faces there too. Eliza Kwan and Troy Herfoss took out their 7hr solo categories while Kyle Ward and Wendy Stevenson took out their 4hr categories. Just in case you were wondering, as a rough idea the course is usually around 10km’s in length. Troy managed to complete 15 laps or around 150kms in 7 hrs.

So that’s it for this year as far as this series goes. We are quite often out shooting for fun at many local tracks around the Sydney region. If you see us out there be sure and stop for a quick hello. If you are competing in any races soon there is always a chance we will be around too, we tend to swing by a lot of them even if it’s just as spectators.

As this was the final in the series Gil and I would like to say a big thank you to all the competitors who raced this season and made our work as much fun as it is. A big congratulations to all the winners from the races and the series. And of course a huge thank you to Martin and Juliane from Rocky Trail Entertainment for all there hard work in putting on such a wonderful series.