The Snowy Mountains have become a beacon for athletes looking to test themselves and compete against other like-minded souls with February the month of multisport with In2Adventure at Lake Crackenback Resort.
Snowies Mountain Bike Festival
This event has gained serious notoriety establishing itself and its format to attract the elite of the sport, plus a stream of keen mountain bike enthusiasts.
With a prize pool of $5000 up for grabs and two unique courses to suit all competitors, this three day event with five diverse stages will be very competitive again in 2022.
The main Wild Brumby event sees riders tackle 114km of alpine mountain bike terrain over five stages that will test their endurance and stamina to the limit.
Stage 1 Thredbo Summit Smash 19.5km - This first leg will see riders climb 533m in elevation over 19.5km from Lake Crackenback Resort to Thredbo Village on Friday morning along the Thredbo Valley Track. Crossing the Thredbo River five times, riders will find it hard to pass on this mostly single track, the leading group often bunched.
Stage 2 Thredbo Ricochet 4.5km – On Friday afternoon the attention turns to the gravity trail of Thredbo where riders tackle the winding flowing Ricochet trail seeking to gain valuable seconds on their rivals.
Stage 3 Snowy Legends Descent 39.5 km – After resting overnight the heat is turned up with an epic ride from Thredbo to Gaden Trout Hatchery in Jindabyne. The distance is no match for the top riders who treat this as a roller coaster, with last year’s stage and overall winner Cameron Ivy saying he was averaging about 25km per hour. Over this terrain that is highly impressive.
Stage 4 Happy Hour Time Trial 5.5km – After 39.5km in the morning, riders now back up for the important 5.5km time trial. This can set up your Sunday very well if you can either claw back time or increase your lead.
Stage 5 Release The Cracken 45k – Three 15km circuits of the Lake Crackenback marathon course will reveal who has the ultimate fitness. With legs tiring from the previous two days, this final event often sees the winner put distance between their rivals for an epic finish and well earned podium celebration.
For those seeking the excitement of competition on a lesser scale, The Brumby event includes fours stages with less overall distance but still encountering much of the same terrain.
Entries are now open for the Snowies Mountain Bike Festival is held on February 4-6
Trail Run Australia Snowy Mountains
OFF-ROAD trail running has boomed in recent years and the Trail Run Snowy Mountains has gone from strength to strength cementing the Snowy Mountains as Australia’s mecca for adventure.
This year the event has extended from one day of competition to now offer two action packed days. This coincides with the new 70km Ultra combing with the existing marathon, half marathon, 11k, 5k and the kids mud rats event.
Starting on Friday 18 February, the 70k Ultra will see entrants start from the Claypits on Lake Jindabyne foreshore following the Hatchery Bay trail before then ascending via the Thredbo Valley Track (TVT) from Gaden Trout Hatchery all the way up to Thredbo.
Once at Thredbo runners will return to Lake Crackenback Resort & Spa to the finish. As much as this might be a very scenic journey, their minds will be purely on putting the next step forward on this gruelling run.
In what can now be described as an easier journey, competitors in the 42.2km marathon will also start in Jindabyne and run to the finish line at Lake Crackenback via the same Hatchery Bay and lower TVT course.
On Saturday 19 February, the shorter versions of half marathon, 11k, 5k and the kids’ events have been extremely popular for those seeking the atmosphere of the occasion without punishing their body too much.
All starting and finish at Lake Crackenback Resort, runners will utilise different courses depending on length, via the Ngarigo campground for the half marathon or a scenic run along the Thredbo River for the 11km.
Enter Trail Run Snowy Mountains
TREX Snowy Mountains
Rounding out two weeks of action at Lake Crackenback Resort is the TREX Cross Triathlon on Sunday 20 February.
Competing on the same 2016 ITU World Championship course, entrants will start with a swim in Lake Crackenback before embarking on a flowing single track mountain bike course followed by the gritty off-road run that includes a section running in the Little Thredbo River.
Again, there are options for various distances so everyone can compete.
The elite competitors will tackle a 1500m swim, 30km mountain bike and 10km trail run, the sprint competitors much less at 400m swim, 15km mountain bike and 3.3km trail run.
The event also offers Duathlon bike and trail and the AquaBike swim and bike events. And be sure to enter the kids into the 50m swim, 15km mountain bike and 500m trail run.
Apart from elite competitors, there are course distances for all enthusiastic competitors in all event disciplines. Plus, kids have their own unique event distances.