ALONG FOR THE RIDE

THE Gold Coast will get a front-row seat to see some of Australia’s elite young mountain bike riders in action at Nerang this weekend.

The 2019 MTBA Schools National Championship kicked off yesterday with more than 350 high school kids, from nearly 100 schools around the country, hoping to take out top honours.

The locals are set to give visitors a run for their money with big numbers coming from Hillcrest Christian College, Nerang State High School and Palm Beach Currumbin State High School.

The riders will compete across three styles including cross-country Olympic, or XCO, which will use the same tracks as the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Today, for the first time, the riders will take on the descending Enduro courses, while tomorrow the XCO events will take centre stage.

Yesterday featured the short cross-country, known as XCC, which featured a short, wide course for “fast and furious racing”.

Gold Coast Mountain Bike Club vice president Chris Thompson invited locals to check out the action.

“Sunday is probably the best spectator day. On Sunday they do a 5km loop multiple times and there will be some really technical sections and then some really fun ones,” he said.

The 2015 world champion trial rider Janine Jungfels will perform some stunts for the crowds this afternoon, before travelling overseas to compete.

Mr Thompson said the event would help to bolster involvement in the sport and brought in tourism dollars for the Gold Coast.

“There’s wear and tear on the bikes when they race this hard so the cafes and bike shops nearby get overrun,” he said.

“It brings in a lot of people for a minimum of four or five days.

“You get the families that come with some of the kids from further away and they have a holiday while they’re here.”