Women's only Diamonds in the Dirt a huge success

Rocky Trail’s inaugural Women’s Only event summoned mountain bikers from Sydney and many local Hunter and Central Coast riders to Awaba MTB Park on Saturday, 2 July. The “Diamonds in the Dirt” event was launched and a colourful and diverse field of riders participated in the three hour event on a 6km circuit. With more than half of the field at their first ever mountain bike event, Danielle Pollock from West Wollongong completed the most laps of the day – in just over three hours she clocked in eight laps ahead of Belinda Diprose from Drummoyne and Melinda Allen from Sydney’s South.

The event’s creator is Juliane Wisata from Rocky Trail Entertainment who also took part in the action. “I’ve dreamt about this event for quite a while and last year I had some time off the bike with a baby on the way and to be at the start line of my own event was very special”, she said. With overwhelmingly positive feedback from her fellow riders, the event would be continued as a playground for any type of mountain biker in years to come she continued and explained that the event vibe was exactly the way she had intended it. “I wanted a positive and inclusive kind of atmosphere and thanks to all those awesome women that’s exactly what we achieved – everyone was friendly out on track, whether they pushed hard for a fast lap time or raced their first ever event – we had almost all podiums filled up and I couldn’t have hoped for a better day out”, Wisata continued.

The event organiser from the Central Coast also credited the initiative of the local club, the Hunter Mountain Bike Association (HMBA) who had held social days in the lead up and supported her crew with ideas on how to route the track. “Our track included all the good bits at Awaba – scenic firetrails and flowy singletrack, some fun pinch climbs and rewarding descents. Nothing too difficult, but a great challenge was what we wanted to put on”, Wisata explained. It had been tough to get back on the bike after having a baby she admitted, “Everyone is so different and it’s a very personal affair – I hadn’t been prepared for the surge of love I felt for this little boy and that I didn’t even want to leave him for a second in those first few months. But he’s become such an inquisitive and fun little person, I know he loves all the attention he gets from dad and friends and family that help look after him while I go out for a ride.”

She was content with the field of 70+ riders she summoned to the inaugural event and plans were already in the pipeline to bring the event back to Awaba in 2017 she concluded, “It was great seeing how the first timers just got hooked and said they’d come back again – the timing didn’t intimidate anyone, but was a fun element and did push the one or the other out on another lap.”

Rocky Trail Entertainment’s Diamonds in the Dirt all-women mountain bike race at Awaba

Rocky Trail Entertainment puts on almost 20 events every year including more than a dozen cross-country races in NSW and the ACT. For more event information and detailed results, visit www.rockytrailentertainment.com