Meet 10 Aussies Racing at the British Columbia Bike Race (BCBR)

After finishing the 2022 BCBR in the Okanagan region of British Columbia with MTB partner in crime David Leckie and JetBlack MTB Team member Graham Smith it was clear that another crack at one of the Worlds best singletrack races would have to happen at some point . It took some time to pass the 2022 race as this was a weekly 22 hour race, riding an event of over 240km and 10,000 vertical metres. But let's take a look at what's happened since 2022 as we head into the 2024 BC Bike Race starting on July 1.

The Browny & Leckie BCBR (Facebook) channel has been active since 2022 and has gained a large following and a large amount of content that brings awareness to the Ultimate Single Track Race. We have become good friends with the owners Dean Payne and Andreas Hestler or Dr. Dre as we refer to him and Moniera who takes care of the racing relationship once you enter and commit to the race. The purpose of the BCBR host organization is to bring people from all over the world to British Columbia to immerse themselves in BC Single Track.

Let's look back to August 2023 after Leckie returned from BCBR 2023 on Vancouver Island. Sitting down over a meal and a few stories that Leckie had shared about this famous place, well known for some of the best MTB trails in the world, a plan was hatched to take a large group of Aussies down for a dip. Governance and trends in British Columbia 2024.

A group of 15 MTB colleagues were contacted to gauge interest and both Leckie and I looked at each other and after the responses kept coming in with a mighty Hell Yeah, I'm in we had 10 people locked in for the 2024 BCBR race. Among this year's leading group are four World Champions from the recent WEMBO 24hr held in Armidale, NSW Australia in 2023.

The next step was to talk to some businesses to get on board and produce some amazing new race kits for BCBR 2024. Supavest got the design rights, Premium Select Finance, Toohey Associates all jumped at the chance to provide some funding to help the team get it. to the start line of BCBR 2024. A call to longtime friend Andy Portress who owns Sixt Custom clothing and in no time a kit design and logo emerges.

One of the things I have to keep reminding myself is getting to the starting line is a challenge. We still have a long way to go with training, staying fit and healthy, traveling and arranging accommodation and transport and most importantly avoiding accidents. A team consisting of the following:

• Bronny – Former 2022 BCBR Rider
• Leckie – third at BCBR
• Smithy – Former 2022 BCBR rider
• Kevlar (24 Hour Rider)
• Captain Kurt (All MTB'ers)
• Owen Gordon – Current 24 Hour World Champion (Nephew of the famous 24 Hour Craig Gordon)
• Michelle Newstead – Current Age 24 Hour World Champion and National Multi-Discipline Champion
• Grant Hodkins – Current 24 Hour World Champion
• Ethan – New to MTB racing but just finished Ironman Australia
• Peter Selkrig – Mulitple World Champion and 24 Hour World Champion and Brown's teammate in the Plus 100 age BCBR.

With such great talent the team is eager to get started and enjoy all that BCBR and Vancouver Island has to offer. The race week will look like this for the 2024 crew:

Here is a short summary of the week's lessons – view here

Prelude – Victoria
8 km
Section 2 – Victoria
28.5km and 887M Vertical
Stage 3 – Cowichan Valley (Queen's Stage)
47.8km and 1,376 Vertical
Section 4 – Nanaimo
32.7km and 866 Vertical
Section 5 – Cumberland
41.3km and 1,348 Vertical
Section 6 – Campbell River
44.9km and 735 Vertical
Section 7 & Final Section – Cumberland
31.3km with 957 Vertical

Another big highlight for all passengers will be what BC Vancouver Island has to offer in terms of great music. 2023 saw daily temperatures reach the early 30'C with many runners suffering from this heat. This year the temperature looks set to be a good race in the mid 20'c. Bring the roots, rocks and amazing BC trail networks to all involved. Finally a big thank you to the riders who bought our story and came on this crazy ride, the sponsors who contributed and most importantly our families who support us in the sport of Mountain Biking.

Stay tuned for BCBR 2024 race coverage and check out the Browny & Leckie BCBR
channel here.