Racing from mountains to beach in Australia

Imagine a week of racing from the highest mountains of Australia, across snowgum lined plains, down along rainforest lined creeks and out to finish in the sand and surf. Event promoter Wild Horizons announced such an event: the inaugural BMC Mountains To Beach from March 1-7, 2009

In a "tour" style event, solo racers or pairs will complete 400km in a journey from the mountains to the beach, from Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains to Narooma on the South Coast of North South West. The majority of the riding will be in race stages that will test the full range of skills - uphill, downhill, cross country, marathon, riding under lights. A short navigation stage and a potential task or two en route will also keep riders' mental facilities sharp. Timed race stages will range from 5km to 100km, and they will be interspersed with a number of non-race cruising stages en route.

"When we announced the retiring of our 11 year old Polaris Challenge event in 2007, the reason was to allow us to run a stage race on mainland Australia in the month of March," said Wild Horizons' Huw Kingston. "Our Course Director Wayne Byard and myself have been working on Mountains to Beach for well over a year now."

"We're really excited by the route and the riding we've pulled together and the partnerships we're forming with host communities along the way," said Kingston. "As with all our events, we're putting on a professionally organized, challenging and fun race with the usual Wild Horizons slight offbeat elements included."

"Our hope is that the event will establish itself as a 'must do' event on the Australian and international MTB calendar," said Kingston. More details will be available on www.wildhorizons.com.au this month.