SNOW DAWGS: MCKAYOS ‘18
Put 250 riders at the top of a snowy mountain and what do you get? McKayos – Australia's take on MegaAvalanche.
It’s one last chance to shred the gnar pow.
McKayos falls on the closing weekend of the ski season at Falls Creek alpine resort. Before most if not any skiiers had awoken, and certainly well before any of the snowboarders had risen to begin nursing their hangovers, the Slalom carparks in the Falls Creek Village were rapidly filling up, packed to the brim with dual cab utes and their favourite accessories: mountain bikes.
Some riders had chosen to head up the mountain the night before, but us? We were up at the crack of dawn, meeting in Mount Beauty in the wee hours before snaking our way 30km uphill as the sun rose.
I: CHAIRLIFT
For a race that is still technically in its infancy, the field for this year McKayos was big, and lord it was staaaaaacked. The crew from Essendon Cyclery travelled up the night before, while there were heaps of people up from Melbourne for a weekend of shred. If previous years were anything to go by, the out-of-towners would be battling for the minor places at best, as a fine suite of local legends from the Kiewa and Ovens Valley’s having clocked this race each year since its debut.
II: COURSE REPORT
Inspired by Megavalanche in France, the McKayos starts up in the snow with a mass start for a few hundred metres of pure chaos. Chaos that is multiplied tenfold with the near 300 strong field rolling out of the starting line in 2018. From there the riders would shoot down a series of ski runs until they eventually dropped into the top of the Falls Creek village.
III: BOMBING DOWN
IV: PACKHORSE
A series of stairsets would have riders step their way through the centre of the village, coming out right next to the ski-lift and carpark that they pulled up in. A brief respite would follow as the race rolled down the Bogong High Plains road, onto a service road, then onto the Packhorse trail – single track that would head down to Howman’s Gap and towards the finish in Bogong.
V: SHUTTLE RETURN
The result? Benno snapped a chain and had to scooter it to the finish, Paddy finished right behind him with a busted wrist, a suspected break debunked later that week. The Essendon Cyclery gang came through as a group after getting caught up in a snowball fight at the bottom of the snow section.
Of the locals up top bMac surfed major waves and defended his title from last year, Chris Panozzo coming in third, but all winners in our hearts.
What winners look like, whether figuratively or spiritually.