2009 DTD Event Wrap Up

WOW what a challenge, what an event. Every rider and their support crews have helped make this event the success it was. I have been asked who runs this event many times in the weeks leading up to and during the course of the night. Perth Mountain Bike Club hosts the event; it has run for at least the last 10 years and is organized by volunteers on the club committee.

The Alcoa Dusk till Dawn could not have been possible without the very generous support of our sponsors. Naming rights as usual went to Alcoa, they don’t just support our event, an army of Alcoa employees turned up to one of the biggest busy bees ever held (was it the lure of a sneak peak at the course??) Alcoa are huge supporters of mountain biking and there support is much appreciated!

Major sponsors

Ayup – For the first time we welcome Ayup! Matt Powell your offer of loan lights was snapped up quickly by riders who registered early! Matt provided multiple light combinations as prizes for our fiercest competitors in the biggest categories. Matt also bought his bike and entered to ride solo in open men, his bike was a single speed and he came 3rd. His cheerful song was heard each lap as he passed behind the rego tent. How one remains so cheerful for so long eludes me! Ayup lights are our choice for both road and mtb, they are the best and the reason Ayup was asked to support our event.

Avanti/Specialized – Geoff Todd again your support was appreciated, you teamed up with some Malaga Mates to try and win the Avanti Corporate Trophy by some chance did you? There are quite a few place getters out there who will enjoy spending their vouchers. Someone on Geoff’s team took out the “Fastest Daylight Lap”, we will let them argue over who owns the jersey.

Crumpler – you guys are awesome and certainly know how to tease a girl with a handbag “thing”. I’m happy to report that the bags and “famous wine bar backpacks” did all make their way to some very lucky winners. Team Crumpler raced, took a 1st place on the podium and had their own funky Crumpler bean bags to relax in. I fell for Crumpler bags when I won a little Crumpler camera case for helping pack up after a 12hr a few years back and after seeing the quality of the product I now just have to decide which colour combination I want.

IT Toolbox – The funky new website is all thanks to you, it coped with the traffic (over 5000 visitors) and looks mighty fine to boot. We have received many positive comments about it. Anyone needing a website please contact T’Anne.

MAAX Marketing – the fresh new logo and design of the promotional material fit our event perfectly. Your support and design team are 2nd to none, there was a lot of promotional material out there! Thank you Wade Kelly.

Bootleg Beer -  Michael Brookes you are a top bloke! The beer you donated as prizes teased many during the night, geez if only we had a liquor license you would have been a very busy man. I lost count of the amount of times I was asked to sell the beer. Next time you are in Margaret River, pop in and have a beer at the Bootleg Brewery, I know I will be.  Micheal hasn’t just supported the Dusk till Dawn, he races at most of our club races during the year and usually turns up in his ute and unloads beer to donate to the prize pool, funny thing is Michael everyone wants the beer and those races are always the toughest. Michael raced in the Dusk till dawn with his lovely lady Diana in a mixed duo.

Champion System – WOW everyone wanted a winners jersey, there was talk weeks before the event, they had people strategically planning their solo challenges, teams and races to increase their chances of bringing one home. Champion System also made our event jerseys. The whole process with Champion System from the initial design to lightening fast delivery could not be faulted. I would most definitely use their services again and with the low minimum order numbers required they cater for everyone.

Lazer Helmets/ BBB – Drew Nimmo for the first time we welcomed you as a sponsor. Lazer helmets are a favorite with many, and what doesn’t BBB do? Accessories, clothing, tools the works, I can think of a bike related thing they haven’t got covered.  A lot of prize bags were overflowing with BBB’s generosity.  As a competitor you are a force to be reckoned with and have competed for the past few years. With the introduction of an ohh I have to say it “a Mature Mens 40+ category” you wanted that yellow jersey and you got it. Congratulations!

Supporting Sponsors
Endura Sports Nutrition provided products to the prize pool and Mountain biking Australia provided recent magazines and subscription vouchers as prizes, thank you!

Event Supporting Bike Shops
The 10 event supporting bike shops donating heaps a prizes that were given away thru the night , all these bike shops are awesome supporters of  WA mountain biking, please support these shops.
Armadale Avanti Cycles
Bikeforce Midland
Carine Cycles
Cottesloe Cycles
Crank’n Cycles Collie
Cycles Bespoke
Joondalup Cycle City
Kalamunda Cycles
Malaga Cycles
Wembley Cycles

 
OK Now the event report
We arrived at Langford Park around 8am Saturday to set up the event centre. The caretaker had already been around and moved on some young campers who had taken it upon themselves to smash glass and rip down some bunting. Our Coates hire equipment may have been tampered with as well, given our temporary glitches early in the night with the lighting towers, thanks to pmbc’s  healthy generator the charging station was kept going.

Parking was getting congested, a little frazzled but it was to be expected. Langford park is a bushland retreat with parking hundreds of cars an unusual challenge. Thank you to everyone for moving on as quickly as possible at the drop off zone.  Unfortunately everyone had the same ideal time to arrive which did result in a traffic jam but thanks to mountain bikers in general being a friendly bunch, the congestion was cleared in record time.
I had so many copies of the “competitors notes” printed out as I expected to be asked the same questions over and over but I was hardly asked anything at all! Thank you to every rider for reading the emails we sent out. Plate and info pack collection was meticulously organized and efficiently run as you had all read all the information sent out, it certainly made a difference on the day.
People I knew kept coming up to me and urging me to take a stroll thru the team tent area as it was just buzzing with excitement and I noticed there were even flat screen TVs this year! I didn’t make it up there till dark and was impressed with the set up of everyone’s home away from home for the night.  

Our Awesome Volunteers
Cheryl Price, entered to ride this event solo and she had just set up when we arrived in the morning, before I could get out the car and stretch my legs there she was, asking how she could help. Cheryl helped with traffic control and then dragged, pulled and stumbled with me as we manhandled those huge white and orange bollards into position.  Cheryl also is a repeat offender when it comes to volunteering, quite often the first to put her hand up to help out in any way she can. Cheryl teamed up with Stephanie Russell and me to mark out the 17klm course on that horrible humid day a few weeks ago.
I put a post up on the pmbc website asking for help on the day. From that post the lovely Cat offered to come down and help from 12 till 6, she arrived bang on time with a smile on her face and got straight into helping hand out info packs and with whatever else she saw needed doing. Cat had prior commitments for the evening and after watching the start she had to leave. I have a feeling we will be seeing Cat again, you are always welcome as a volunteer but we would love to see you at some of our events on your bike and having fun!

Lovely Maria, French Frank aka Kermit the frog’s wife approached me offering her help, next thing i knew Maria was with us at ergo as the crowds had started to arrive; she fit right in and was very much appreciated!
Steve and Mitch Grey, not just this event but every time we need a volunteer Steve is there, this time round he took charge of the race briefing and had his son Mitch at the 2way radio control centre, co-ordinating us all and even had an appropriate tune playing to kick off the event. Steve looked mighty fine in his elf hat, I think I even saw him asleep in his car at one stage wearing it. Mitch at 13 years young was not old enough to be racing but took on the secret Barbie missions, riding around with Barbie safely tucked out of site and helping her escape Ken. Mitch was also out on course to collect any lost items, rubbish and to make sure everything was ok.

Simon Linklater, who had entered to ride and due to illness, could not ride but he still turned up and pitched in, helping out wherever he was needed.

Duncan Sullivan and Stuart Gee, Duncan emailed me after I put the pmbc post up asking for help. He had a prior commitment that meant he couldn’t race in the event and offered to turn up in the morning and CLEAN UP THE COURSE!! Duncan you turned up as we were about to leave, I didn’t get your name and was so exhausted that things were a little hazy. I was driving home and kept thinking about this guy who wanted to help and couldn’t be there on the night that he was now there cleaning up the course while we made our way home. Simon went to do a final check on the course on Monday morning; there was not a piece of bunting to be seen. It was an awesome clean up job! We used about 8 rolls and it took Steph and I a couple of hours to bunt the course, I can only imagine how many hours it took Duncan and Stuart to remove it all and collect rubbish. For the record I am extremely happy to report that there was only 26 gel wrappers and 6 water bottles removed from the course after the event. Considering the amount of people that were riding, the amount of rubbish removed from the course after the event was minimal and I thank everyone for being so considerate. As far as I know the last time Barbie took off she wasn’t found, if you do come across her you may want to give her something to wear and bring her along next year to join in again.

Whilst on the subject of the course, event centre and litter, Simon met with Langford parks caretaker Dave and he is extremely happy with the condition in which the park has been left and for us to mention that here.  DEC require us to meet certain conditions and this event has not disappointed. This goes a long way in gaining approval in the future from DEC for mountain biking events  
Before this event I had never met Cat, Maria, Duncan or Stuart. You are all very special people to have volunteered and made a huge difference to a bunch of strangers, Thank you.
Steve and Mitch you are both very special as well, but until you take that elf hat off Steve I can’t take you seriously.

Amy Dec, at 10 years old you have shown maturity beyond your age and flawlessly contributed towards the preparation, you helped pack every event bags over the 2 days it took and on the day of the event you teamed up with Cat and had rego sorted!  You have also helped look after your little sister while Dad and I have been busy working on the event the past few months. Thanks Amy xx

Perth mtb committee members
Jimmy Lobegeiger, at 8am you were there with Simon, towing the crowd barriers around and setting up the event centre with Simon and every time I saw you there was a huge smile on your face. Your moment of glory was when you rocked up to rego in the afternoon with an esky full of icecreams, it was the best thing you could have done and they went down a treat. At that moment in time you were my hero!

Stephanie Russell and Bron Suchecki, having run events like this yourselves in the past you have always been there with great advice and words of encouragement.  Having the teams bags packed made rego the success it was, that was a great idea that has to be used in the future. THE COURSE…. well it was Bron and Steph’s extensive knowledge of Jarrahdale and passion for mountain biking that created this super course which utilized most of the singletrack Jarrahdale has to offer whilst still catering for varying abilities and the amount of riders we had taking on the challenge.
BRON I was so tired in the morning that I just gave your jersey to Steph. I had hoped to present it to you in front of everyone and let everyone know that for the past 6 years you have volunteered your time at the 12hr and have not ridden it.  Thank you for all the effort you have put into the club over the years, it’s a mammoth effort.  How about you ride the next 12 hr?

Simon Dec would like to thank each and every one of you for being part of the biggest and best 12hr event we have ever seen in Western Australia.

Thanks for all the emails and positive feedback your kind words are much appreciated!

Also thanks to Jarrahdale Volunteer Fire Fighters once again doing an exceptional job with the parking and keeping us tummies full with those awesome hot dogs all night! And Perth Coffee Express who kept the caffeine flowing all night and keeping us all going.

Last but most definitely not least of all, if I have forgotten to mention someone that helped out, it has not been done intentionally. Every single ounce of help we received made the event the success it was.

Thanks on behalf of Perth Mountain Bike Club, wishing you all a Merry Xmas and happy safe New Year and looking forward to seeing you all at the 2010 MTB season, calendar being released soon for more information please visit www.perthmtb.com