[On July 26, 2009] These 2009 World Championships will take place between the 1st and the 9th of September in the Australian capital, Canberra, which is situated between Sydney and Melbourne. Surrounded by hills and in the middle of the bush (which sometimes means that you can see kangaroos in the city), Canberra promises to be a very memorable event indeed!
Before we publish our usual presentation of the biggest event on the international calendar, here are the first photos of the sections, which are currently under construction. Anthony Burton, Competition Director for the 2009 UCI MTB and Trials World Championships, had this to say: “We will be building a total of eight sections made up of natural obstacles, including wooden logs and rocks as well as artificial obstacles specially constructed for the occasion”.
When we showed these photos to Gilles Coustellier a couple of days ago he was blown away by the beauty of the site and the scale of the sections… “Wow – they’re MASSIVE!”
The trials Grand Master will be fighting for his title on what will surely be some of the best UCI sections of 2009, visibly bigger than anything we’ve seen so far in the World Cup! The imported rocks are monstrous, they look like mountains! We can’t wait to see more! Thanks to Warren Hudson aka WildWassa on the Rotorburn forum for these excellent photos…
The World Championships will take place on Mont Stromlo, West of Canberra itself, at 770m above sea level.
This space, opposite the main car park, will be entirely dedicated to trials, with four sections to be built here…
A second series of four sections will be built on the other side of the bridge… here’s a little preview of what the riders will be facing…
[On August 24, 2009] Other pictures of the the sections and more precisions by Warren Hudson !
Two riders Simmo (top) and Scott who were examining the permanent Obstacles, were happy to provide a human scale. In the top shot the camera is over 6m off the natural lie of the land.
The beer tent will be over there some where? ... beyond these obstacles.
The man who is keeping the reels spinning for the Observed Trials ... Craig aka Pearcey ( the competitions manager & Race Director, former Australian Champion Craig Pearce).
I could easily think that I was above the tree line on the Main Range of the Australian Alps this ’arvo... but at Stromlo, watching the installation of obstacles.
Much work still has to be done, including more landscaping.
For the log obstacles, rails are still to be installed and the tall stump and logs will be re-cut and planks inserted into the main stump, just like a lumber jack will cut grooves for planks that will allow scaling a tree to get to the top.
Once the strapping of the wooden obstacles commences, I’ll photograph the reels, planks, barrels and railway sleepers.
Tomorrow the palates will be installed. Most of the palates in the Australian Capital Territory, if not in Australia, ... are stacked at Stromlo, it appears.
Warren.