Highland Fling

In 2009 the Highland Fling will be taking place on 7/8 November. The inaugural event is an annual fixture on the calendar as one of Australia’s premier mountain bike events and as one of the most recognisable events in the Southern Highlands of NSW. In 2008 entries closed with 1440 riders and a wait list of 100 riders hoping to gain a place!

The Fling is now one of the largest cycling events in the country and hugely popular. The 1700 available places were sold out in 5 hours back in July!

The Highland Fling is a Mountain Bike Marathon starting and finishing in the village of Bundanoon in the Southern Highlands, NSW, on Sunday 8 November 2009. Riders can enter as a Full Flinger (solo approx 110km), Flinging Threesomes (relay team of three but can be done as a pair), or Half Fling (solo approx 55km). There is also a limited entry (max 30 riders) 100mile Fling option (160km). And there's also the Casual Fling, a 14km untimed participation ride.

The Southern Highlands presents a superb venue for mountain biking or off road cycling. It possesses a variety of terrain, the closest State Forests (Penrose and Wingello) to Sydney, is easily accessible by road and rail from Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Wollongong with good airport connections.

The Highland Fling is run by Wild Horizons and also raises funds for a number of local community groups involved in the staging of the event.

The Highland Fling has been announced by Wild Horizons as the Australian MTB Marathon Championships, with a twist to the norm. Whilst the efforts of the Elite riders leaves us all in awe, this event is very much about challenging the average rider, about participation, and about everyone being a champion for completing the course. For this reason the National Champion won’t be the first rider across the line. We’ve decided to reward this participation by crowning the National MTB Marathon Champions as the Man and Woman who finish in the average time for the 100km. Of course, the elite winners get their rewards too as always.

The Route

The Full Fling will follow a unique route that will take riders out from Bundanoon on great tracks and eventually into and around Penrose State Forest and out via farmland to Wingello to complete Stage 1 - The Ground Effect Stage. From here riders will enter the beautiful forest and gully country of Wingello State Forest. They will loop back to Wingello village to complete Stage 2 - The Forests NSW Stage. They then follow a different route back into Penrose State Forest and eventually back to Bundanoon to complete Stage 3 - The GU Stage. All but 2km of the route will be on dirt – singletrack, open paddock, rough tracks, dirt roads. The profile shows a total of some 2350metres of enjoyable climbing and given you finish back where you started that means there’s 2300metres of sweet downhill! It will test all who take on the challenge. The Half Fling completes The Ground Effect Stage and The GU Stage.

• Full Fling - Ground Effect Stage (34km), Forests NSW Stage (54km), GU Stage (25km).
• Half Fling - Ground Effect Stage (34km), GU Stage (25km).
• 100Mile Fling - Ground Effect Stage (34km), Forests NSW Stage (54km) twice, GU Stage (25km).

Further information

For further details visit

Web: www.wildhorizons.com.au

Ph:     02 4883 6509 Mob: 0418 977 609 Fax: 02 4883 6239        

Email: info@wildhorizons.com.au