Shimano GP Round 5 brought to you by Rocky Trail Entertainment @ Mt Anan

The Endurance Series for #rockytrailracers!

Rocky Trail shakes it up in 2015 - SHIMANO MTB GP reloaded!

The SHIMANO MTB Grand Prix Series is in its seventh year in 2015. Under the patronage of SHIMANO Cycling Australia and with its host of major sponsors and supporters it has grown to one of the major cross-country endurance racing series in Australia. For 2015, we have six scheduled events at some of the most popular (and our favourite) mountain bike venues in NSW and the ACT, expecting more than 350 riders at each round.

We are proud that Rocky Trail events enjoy the great reputation that they are challenging yet doable, serious yet fun, professional yet friendly - all driven by its Directors' commitment to run a business that promotes fair races that are exceptionally well run. Our SHIMANO MTB GP events continue to receive respectable coverage across a wide variety of online and print media and what we, Juliane and Martin, hold in the highest regard is that particular human touch-factor that we both thrive to instill into all aspects of our business, especially in the way our events are run. It's an authenticity, we're told, that comes through in the way our entire crew works together to deliver great races.

To fend of any seven-year itches, we've decided to shake things up a little and major changes revolve around the category structure. - Same awesome event atmosphere, same passionate Rocky Trail crew, same and even more great race tracks - more achievements to be celebrated!

Our goal for the SHIMANO MTB GP Series 2015 is to provide more tools and platforms to celebrate a wider variety of achievements via online certificates promptly available after each race and in more age groups and additional quirky measurements - ever wondered if shiny legs are faster than hairy ones?

We want to reward as many riders as possible with prizes across the series. We want to deliver a series that is less of an elite- and winners-only-focused competition, but a positive and inclusive experience for all participants.

At the centre of the race results will be that General Classification (GC) determining the major winners of a race. A further measure will be a wider variety of age groups, which will determine the Category podiums. You will receive a placing in both GC as well as one category.

The biggest change, however, we propose will be the way we hand out prizes: we will hand out the prizes BEFORE the race start!

Rather than handing out the prizes we get from our fantastic sponsors to the winning riders only, we are introducing a streamlined GC product-reward winning, fixed podium structure and then to spread more spot prizes across the entire field.

We plan to issue as many raffle giveaway tickets as we receive prizes from our sponsors at each race and they will be categorised according to item value. Each rider with a "winning ticket" will be able to pick a prize from the "Rocky Trail Bazaar" of spot prizes. Additional tickets go into the draw for a selected number of major prizes, which will differ from race to race.

Additionially, we will facilitate a more detailed analysis of race results via online certificates. These will be based on a few more parameters that we'll ask you to give us when you sign up.

staffe, Hasbeen Racing, flowbikes, Captain Chunder