Beat the Bastard came about from a discussion at breakfast one morning following our regular Sunday morning luge run on Mt Stuart. There had been a lot of discussion on various Australian Gravity Sports websites about the lack of events and races in Oz. Initially we looked at running a race - the Australian National Downhill Championships, however the more we looked into it the more we realised that it would be logistically impossible to run a race with just the 6 of us to organise it, not to mention the need for 8,000 hay bales.

 

As one of our group had recently had a brush with Prostate Cancer we decided to run a freeride (therefore less logistics and heaps fewer haybales) and donate any proceeds to Prostate Cancer Research. The inaugral Beat the Bastard was held over the first weekend in May 2009 and was a resounding success. The riders who attended (all 55 of them) had a ball and more runs than they could cope with. The runner vehicles did over 70 trips up the hill over the 2 days and almost all riders had to take rests throughout the weekend.

 

One of the highlights of BtB 2009 was Katie Champion getting her money's worth and riding almost every run all weekend, she was a machine and will be sorely missed this year, but we hope to see Katie and the new little Champion back for BtB 2011. It was great to see so many riders improve their skills over the course of the weekend and it was a terrific training ground for Newton's Playground and the World Championship.

 

We ran a very strict Tech Inspection prior to the ride and ensured all riders met IGSA specs. This proved to be invaluable at the Worlds in November when the riders who attended BtB 2009 had a much easier passage through tech at Bathurst. Tech this year will be just as stringent and all riders need to check their gear meets IGSA standards.

 

We all look forward to seeing everyone on the hill this May and hope that you will all check out our sponsors who are listed at the bottom of this page, visit their sites and support those who support us.

 

Last year we raised $5,500.00 for Prostate Cancer. Come along this year and see if we can raise more for the Queensland Cancer Council.

 

Adrian ADO Alderson