I have just got back from the presentation and after party. It’s 1am. Vimeo has finished encoding the men’s downhill final, here it is. Raw, unedited, this is the video we captured live that all the spectators saw on the screens. We have a whole weekend of racing, this is just a taste, but the race everyone wants to see.
We have all the weekends racing to still upload. We are in the country with limited internet upload, PLEASE be patient!!!! It took 3 hours to upload this. When we are back in Sydney, you get everything. Commentator is Bricin Lyons, we imported him from Canada, he is the voice of longboarding. Adam Yates gave him a list of aussie slang to use, which is what he is reciting at the end of the video. The start of the video is a phone call to Yvon, an overseas luger in hospital from a nasty crash earlier in the day.
Final Mens Downhill.
Final is Scott “scoot” Smith (defending world champion from canada), Kevin “k-rimes” Reimer (canada), Olivier Bareaud (france), Andrew Chapman (canada).
It was an amazing day. Last night the heavens opened up, lightening lit up the sky, rain poured down. However we woke up to blue skies and the excitement of Day 1.
All the first round of qualifying results are on the front page
All the top guys were tight and fast. Martin Siegrist is the fastest qualifier. Closely followed by Andrew Chapman, Scoot, Mischo and K-Rimes. Look at Evren Ozan times!!! He is the Sector 9 junior. He look some nice lines, super fast. If he can keep clean he will be hard to beat in the junior race.
There was some rough racing in the Hopkin Racing Team. Tara did some nice runs in practice but in her last practice crashed at the dipper hard. She broke her arm and was taken to hospital, her dream run over.
Gabe crashed hard in the dipper, really bad hip crash, making tucking too hard and was out for the rest of the day. He is getting physio and hopefully he can post a qualifying time tomorrow.
Luca skated well even though he is injured. Nice clean runs. Rob McWinnie was the stand out team rider today. His time is right up there, he took it easy, says there is plenty left in the tank for faster times.
Today, the stand up speedboarders took the top half of the track too fast and loose. There was major crashes at the dipper, going too fast with a line that ended up in the haybales.
Tomorrow is a huge day. Final qualifying. Repocharge for the final places. Look out for all the top guys to step it up and push the thane to the limit.
ASRA are working to provide the best coverage possible for everyone that can not be on the mountain this weekend to watch the IGSA World Championships. Please note any times and dates in this post are Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), use a online service to work out the time in your local region.
There are multiple ways to find out results this weekend. Twitter, ASRA home page, and hopkin homepage and the hopkin blog.
IGSA World Cup Twitter – Marcus will have internet access on the finish line all weekend. He will be twittering results and details.
ASRA home page – this is where all the information will be posted first from the ASRA HQ at Castrol Tower. There will be three types of media to enhance your life and non-Newton’s experience. Live results !!! The actual race spreadsheet will be published live online. You will see the qualification times on Friday as they happens. Same time as ASRA officials in HQ. ASRA are also planning to have a live race tree on Saturday and Sunday. You will be able to see in almost real time the race results, who wins, who loses, who is in the next round, who’s dream is over. Delayed Video – ASRA have set up 5 video cameras and have laid 2.5km of cable on Mt Panorama. An editor will live switch and follow the racers down the hill. The vision and Bricin Lyons live commentary will be captured. 10 minute blocks of video will be encoded and uploaded to an ASRA Vimeo account. The video will be pblished on teh front page. The video should be available to be watched with a 1 to 2 hours delay. The video will stay online for everyone to watch and enjoy. Our goal, if everything works, is to capture the whole weekend of racing. Daily Photos – ASRA have commissioned Paul Davies from Future Kill Imagery to capture in film every day as he sees it through his camera lens. There will be 100+ photos uploaded to the ASRA website at the end of everyday.
Not enough online info?
I will be twittering insane thoughts and all the Newton’s info you thought you could live without. So add Hop on HopkinSkate
Exhausted every day, I will try and blog a bit of extra info here during the weekend. No guarantees.
Still want more? Get your self on the mountain you slacker.
There will be live result during the weekend on Bathurst Local Radio, in the Western Advocate newspaper, local Southern Cross TV, all around Australia on Channel Ten Sports Tonight and extra footage and commentary at our friends at BigPond TV
I will be the last one out of Sydney tomorrow. Hopshop is closed for the next 4 days. Come to Mt Panorama, it will change your life and your perception of skating forever.
Here it is, my guide for Newton’s. Almost everything you need to know, plus a bit more.
Newton’s Playground is the Australian leg of the IGSA World Cup. This year it is the World Championship race, so who ever wins their category is crowned World Champion. This is the one of the main reason you should get to Newton’s this year as a spectator. We have a high proportion of overseas competitors, all of the top racers from around the world standing on top of our mountain, thinking of all the possibilities and dreaming of glory.
Maps
Camp ground map of facilities on Mt Panorama.
How to get there?
Best way to get to Bathurst is by car. It is a 3 hour car trip from Sydney to Bathurst. The only two roads you need to know are Western Motorway and the Great Western Highway. Drive to the Western Motorway which will take you west out of Sydney to the Blue Mountains. From there it connects to the Great Western Highway, which will take you all the way to Bathurst, passing over the Blue Mountains, through Lithgow and then to Bathurst. Police patrol this road, please observe the speed limits.
Other modes of transport are trains. Train via CountryLink on the NSW Central West Line takes 3 hours and 30 minutes from Sydney Central. Trains run every day, between 1 and 2 trains. You can plan a train trip here Daily train timetable here
Where to stay?
You can camp on the mountain. There is a camp fee of $20 per car. You must have a camp sticker to get past security at night in McPhillamy Park. Hotel accomodation is listed on the ASRA website
If you are driving, entrance to Mt Panorama is via Murray’s Corner. The only vehicle access to the top of the mountain is turning right and driving around Hell’s Corner, up mountain Straight and driving up to McPhillamy Park. You can park for free at McPhillamy. There is no parking on the road. Please note that Mount Panorama is a public road. Normal road rules apply. You can not speed or race your car on this road. This road is a two way road. Do not cut corners, you will run into on coming traffic.
This year the rear entrance to McPhillamy Park is closed. There will be no vehicle access.
Please be considerate to the residents on Mount Panorama.
Conrod Straight will be blocked for general public road traffic from 7.30am to 5.30pm.
Where is the best place to watch all the racing?
Forest Elbow now known as Rayne Corner is where all the action happens. This is the most exciting part of the track, racers have to negotiate speeds of up to 70kmph and a tight left corner. The best vantage point is called Fox’s View. You’ll meet Fox, he’ll be the one on the track coordinating the resetting of haybales when there is a crash.
There is now a tarred access road down to Fox’s view from Skyline (start line). There are various places along the way to watch the racing and get a different perspective.
Another good vantage point is at the start line. This year spectators have access to the grass hill over looking the start line. This is also where the food and trade market are located. The ASRA tent will have festival merchandise and a plasma screen with live racing video.
We are allowing spectator access past Fox’s View and down Conrod Straight.
Essential items
It will be hot this year on the mountain. Already the long range forecast is 30 degrees.
Water water water water. Bring lots of water. Sunscreen, hat and a big smile.
Food
There will be food vendors on the mountain. Located at Fox’s view and also in the trade village at the start line. Everyone is allowed to bring their own food and drink. There is no restrictions on food and beverage. Bathurst City is not a far drive away to buy extra supplies.
Please be kind with your rubbish, we have to clean up after you.
After Party
McPhillamy Park will be a big party spot. All the crazy antics happened in the camp area last year.
Most of the riders will be at the Uni bar at Charles Sturt University every night. This is the official ASRA after race chill out area. UniBar has plenty of space, bar area, lounge, BBQ, and outdoor area. The equipment accreditation will be here on the Thursday. There are plans for a bus service to run from the Unibar to McPhillamy Park at night to help riders and spectators to get off the mountain, to the Unibar and back again at night.
UniBar are running a bistro service that will serve hot food most of the night.
The general public are welcome to drink and chill out with the competitors each night at the UniBar. Location is on the maps above.
If you can only make one day
If you can only make one day of racing, get there on Sunday. Sunday is final day. All the top competitors, most intense racing, and maybe new World Champions created.
Awards and Ceremony Night
After party and awards night starts at the UniBar at 7pm on Sunday night. Riders will start to arrive around 6pm.
General public welcome and encouraged to attend. Competitors must attend … especially if you won
How much are ticket prices?
Newton’s is FREE this year. That’s right, you can come and watch the fastest skateboarders on this planet, racing down Australia’s most famous mountain. All for nothing. Bring your kids, bring your dad, bring your wife or mum, pack the car, get travelling. SEE YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN !
I can not make it this year Hop, I promise I’ll poke my eye with a hot poker as punishment, but where can I find all the live results?
I’m glad you asked.
There is going to be video on the ASRA website this year. We are planning to post up all the days racing, probably a 1 to 2 hour delay. It will not be a live stream. It will be available to watch over and over again. We like that, it makes us feel popular when you watch it more than once.
Paulus will be taking photos all weekend of the racing and posting them up each day on the ASRA website.
Hop will be twittering all weekend on HopkinSkate account.
Marcus has internet access at the finish line this year, so he will be twittering on the IGSA twitter account.
Marcus will be posting results on IGSA World Cup website.
ASRA will be updating the ASRA website will all the days results.
This has been your captain speaking … brace yourself for take off
Fresh off of winning the U.S. National Streetluge Championship last week in California, GRAND-AM Road Racing veteran Andy Lally has made last minute plans to enter the International Gravity Sports Association World Championships next week in Australia.
Lally, who won the Rolex 24 At Daytona this past season and earned victories in both the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and KONI Sports Car Challenge, will be one of over 50 luge racers trying to qualify for the 32 spots available in the finals.
“Of all the different kind of racing I have done in my life, streetluge is one of the things that puts the biggest smile on my face,” said Lally, a former streetluge champion. “I was supposed to be relaxing a bit this winter but when the car racing season started winding down a bit I was able to pick up a few streetluge races and things went really well.
“We were able to win both luge classes at the September IGSA World Cup event held in Maryhill, Wash., and then went to California last week for the National Championships and I was fortunate to win that against some very good guys and close competition,” Lally continued. “I see this trip to Australia as a rare opportunity to try an accomplish something not a lot of people get to do, so I’m going to go for it.”
The IGSA World Championships will be held Nov. 27-29, 2009 in Bathurst, NSW, Australia at the famous Mount Panorama race track.
“The pressure is certainly on not to mess up qualifying!” Lally said. “I have help from Seismic Wheels and Project 4 for this event and I hope we can do everyone back home proud. There are some extremely talented riders entered from all over the world so I will be working hard to make sure I bring my best stuff.”
Last years Newton’s Playground was incredible in many aspects so this year the IGSA decided to award “Newton’s” World Championship status. The course is challenging, technical and fast with top speeds in the 105 km/h (65 mph) range down a 1.3-kilometer course, starting from Skyline at the top of the iconic Mt Panorama circuit, and finishing on Conrod Straight.
Ben Smith has been working hard for ASRA, IGSA and the downhill community to get decent coverage of our sport in the media.
BigpondTV.com are covering Newton’s Playground this year. Ben and his team are creating content for them. It will be shown through out the Australian summer.
You’ll see his film crew up on the mountain. If you get a request for an interview, please be generous with your time. And check out bigpondTV.com. I’ll update the blog when they start showing videos of all the downhill racing on Mt Panorama.
Previews of Ben’s project Downhill Republic will be broadcast this weekend on Bigpond Sports Weekend:
Saturday:
3:40pm
5:30pm
Sunday: 3:10pm
5:30pm
Newtons Playground weekend schedule
Saturday 28th November – race update with interview of a competitor.
Sunday 29th November – race results called into studio, with live competitor interviews.
Race vision will start airing on Sunday.
Haggy, President of ASRA and Martin Siegrist, 3 time World Champion from Switzerland are on Bathurst Radio this morning.
2BS Radio has been an enthusiastic supporter of Newton’s Playground. ASRA this year is trying to involving the local community and grow Newton’s into a major regional event with a strong local grassroots support. If we can do this, it will provide long term financial viablity for the festival, and provide Bathurst with another major event on Mt Panorama for the whole community. A win win situation for both communities, Bathurst and ASRA/IGSA.
Haggy and Martin are talking it up on Bathurst radio at 11.10am this morning. It could be a bit earlier or later. Everyone can listen to the interview live online. Click on the link below.
Jackson Shapiera, on doctors advice, has had to withdraw from Newton’s Playground today and the 2009 World Championship.
From a low speed crash during practice last week, Jackson has sustained major ligament damage and some chipping of the bone. During the crash, Jackson rolled his ankle, and a routine practice has turned into a season ending injury.
Jackson is obviously devastated, but has accepted the doctor’s decision. Jackson will step up to Hopkin Team Manager for Newton’s, helping the whole team with his invaluable experience.
Hopkin Racing Team for Newton’s Playground is Robbo, Luca, Gabe, Rob McWhinnie and Tara.
There are skaters from all around the world coming to Newton’s Playground to compete. For the first time we will have a delegation from the Philippines!
Longboarding and racing has taken off in the Philippines, and there is a professional scene growing. They have held their first Asian Gravity Games, and promote all types of skating, including freestyle. It is a goal of ASRA to help promote overseas events and eventually create a Australasian series involving Asian and Oceanic countries and competitors.
Longboards Manila are organising the skaters from the Philippines. They are looking for corporate funding to help pay expenses, read there blog post here. If you can help in anyway, please contact them.
When you are at Newton’s, look out for the crew from the Philippines. They are coming to be competitive and represent all that is great about their country. They have some serious equipment, look what just arrived for the team:
Bamboo foamcore Dropspeed specifically build by Landyachtz for the team
How fast is longboarding and skateboard racing growing in Australia? Well, I have some interesting numbers for you, but first a bit of background.
I have been involved with the Australian Skateboard Racing Association (ASRA) since its inception. Bugs, Haggy and myself (and many others) talked about it for over a year before we started ASRA. The main reason for starting ASRA was to have a formal association to organise racing and get event insurance. Insurance has always been a big issue in skateboarding. Although we did not need insurance, it was a case of the chicken or the egg. We knew eventually insurance would be required for a big race, it was best to have the structure and insurance in place, so there would be no barrier to grow the sport. Within 12 months, Newton’s Playground came along. Newton’s is ASRA’s showcase event.
To broaden the appeal of racing, ASRA moved it’s online activity from an old school forum to it’s own internet address, which then was updated to the Ning social network platform everyone enjoys at www.skateboardracing.org.au.
Hosting the IGSA World Cup every year has shaped ASRA into a dynamic association. The result is it is now the default longboarding forum in Australia, giving us a unique insight into how fast longboarding is growing in Australia.
This month the ASRA website has had 23,856 visits. A growth of 58% in three months.
Unique visitors has increase 77% in three months.
Page views are over 131,805, an increase of 76%.
The ASRA website is unique. A website of nearly 700 members, creating the online community they want to be apart of, putting up their own content of stories, video and photos. It does have a commercial side, allowing all industry vendors to post up information about their business or products. It sells advertising to local resellers to fund the cost of the website.
ASRA is a true non profit sporting association. It is not a privately owned company pretending to be an association. It is not a roller skating association pretending to be a skateboard association.
Although I have a deep involvement, ASRA works hard to be commercially independent. It is inclusive not exclusive.
I invite everyone to be involved. Sign up online, get active, there is something for everyone. Dont forget, Newton’s Playground is in two weeks!!!! This is when our tribe get together. It is all ages, all types of skaters welcome, general public welcome, come and see the fastest skaters on the planet.
Manufacturers
Fresh off of winning the U.S. National Streetluge Championship last week in California, GRAND-AM Road Racing veteran Andy Lally has made last minute plans to enter the International Gravity Sports Association World Championships next week in Australia.