Cape to Cape MTB 2010

Cape to Cape MTB Race 2010 from Kenneth Koh on Vimeo.

The Cape to Cape Mountain Bike Race is an annual event held in the Margaret River region of Western Australia. 

Map of the Cape to Cape MTB Race from Cape Leeuwin to Dunsborough

It is a four stage race and totals about 200km of distance across a variety of terrain.  The first stage climbs out of Cape Leewin, and then finds its way onto the beach and ends in Hamelin Bay.  Stage 2 winds through back roads, paved roads and some singletrack trail to finsh at Prevelly.  Stage 3 is a 'special' stage with a greater proportion of singletrack through some very nice pine forests.  It ends at the Colonial Brewery in Margaret River.  The final stage is fast paced ride through fire roads and ends with a little singletrack through Meelup Park at Dunsborough.

Stage Three: Singletrack Action

Riders are expected to find their own accommodation and food.  This could be a problem for foreign riders.  We chose to camp out at the suggested campsites.  The race does have some vendors coming to the campsites, but it's not a sure thing.  For example, the food vendor ran out of breakfast food on the morning of the first day (he didn't cater enough, but fixed his mistake and never ran out again), and the coffee vendor decided she could make more money at another event on the 3rd morning, and so we started the day without our morning expressos :o( 

Stage Three ends at the Colonial Brewery

Overall, it is a great event, but is not without its flaws.  The organization is a bit 'loose', but with some Aussie ingenuity and flexible, the job gets done.  For example, there wasn't enough space on the bus to take participants from the campsite to the start line on the first day.  We waited for almost 2 hours for the bus to make a return trip and arrived just 15 minutes before the start.  Even then, there wasn't enough space for the all the competitors and some had drive down, while others hitched a ride.  There wasn't enough time for lunch, but event volunteers managed to scrounge us up some food.

Awards presentation after the race, Dunsborough

Despite the lapses, the event is well worth doing.  The region, the trails and the work that the volunteers have done really make up for the few management lapses, and the event is well worth doing - especially if you can spend some time checking out the Margaret River region after the race.

We used two Panasonic LX3s for the photos and a GoPro HD Wide for the video.  If you would like to see more photos, please see my Cape to Cape set on Flickr.