1st annual Forrest Festival

Giant Australia this past weekend were proud to be on board as a sponsor of the 1st annual Forrest Festival mountain bike race which took place deep in the Otway Ranges at Forrest, Victoria. We travelled down with the Giant convoy and gave away prizes to many of the entrants in the event. The festival had a unique format with several stages taking place over the weekend. On the Saturday racing kicked off with a 15km cross country race and was then followed by a short 15 minute hill climb followed by a 15 min "Super-D" back into town.

The heavens opened up during the end of the cross country stage and it remained wet for most of the weekend but the trails handled the rain remarkably well with the 50km cross country stage on the Sunday remaining mostly dry. Unfortunately due to the rain the planned Twilight Eliminator stage on the Saturday night had to be cancelled, but the festivities continued on into the evening.

Giant athletes posted some great results with Josh Carlson winning 3 out of the 4 stages in the Elite men's race but unfortunately conceded too much time on the hill climb stage and lost the overall by 2 seconds to Peter Kutschera. Giant sponsored rider Lewis Rattray also took 4th place overall after a strong performance in the hill climb and 50km xc stages.

Elite female rider and Forrest local Jessica Douglas put in a strong performance in the 50km cross country stage on the Sunday to end up taking the overall race as well from Becky Mates and Tory Thomas. Giant staff members Alistair Wilson and David Ross took a break from the office and finished in 1st & 2nd in the Open Male category and a special mention also goes to Melanie Pellas, one of our sponsored real riders who took out 4th place in the Veteran Female category!

Damian Breach was on hand to take some fantastic shots at the event, check out more of his work here.

For full results, photos and more check out the official Forrest Festival website: www.forrestfestival.com.au