Kona 24hr
The Kona 24 Hour was the most popular yet.
Dave Wood reports on Victoria’s biggest 24 hour event.
Held every year on the first weekend in December, the Kona 24 Hour proved once again to be a well organised, well supported and well executed event. The event venue is just out of Redesdale and within stones through of the Mt Lofty Ranges. It is in the heart of sheep country in drought affected Victoria. More than 700 riders took part in this Full Gas Promotions event and braved the hot sun and cool nights to make it the best supported 24 hour race to be held south of the border. Not surprising considering the awesome vibe, spacious camping and extracurricular activities that make this event a family affair.
The Redesdale Sate Forest is managed by Vic Parks and once again the collective hat of the mountain bike community goes off to them for allowing access to the 18km loop of rocky undulating singletrack and smooth open fire roads. While the track itself didn’t leave you buzzing with excitement, the tight corners and tricky rock gardens kept everyone guessing and sometimes crashing as the night wore on and the sleep monsters began to play havoc with the riders’ minds. This was only made more exciting by the countless corners in the singletrack—there was so many turns that nothing looked familiar and it felt like we were riding new sections of singletrack each time we headed out. The emphasis on family fun included a 24 minute marathon for the juniors and then a sweep of activities and prizes which seemed to flow as regularly as riders were coming in to complete their laps. Hot showers, coffee, food, a bar and full time bicycle mechanics ensured everyone and everything was running as smoothly as possible. They even had a movie theatre! The Felt Foursome team was the toast of the event taking three of the four fastest laps and amassing a total of 28 complete laps—one more than the crew from Woodend Cycles. In the psycho solo section, Tim Ferres was victorious bringing home the bacon with 20 laps and Alexandra Kiendl completing a very impressive 17 laps to win the women’s event.
