CANNONBALL EXPLODES!
The 2024 Cannonball MTB Festival was the 10th anniversary event, and the 5-day gravity festival absolutely went off at Thredbo in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains region. Over 800 competitors and thousands of spectators visited the alpine village for a diverse line-up of events. While Australia’s homegrown mountain bike talent is incredible, plenty of internationals made the trip to Australia to join in the fun. Tim Winshuttle was stoked to see just how much the event has grown while he has worked at Thredbo.
“Seeing this incredible event grow into what it is has been a huge highlight of my career. Thredbo’s downhill field now looks like a World Cup start line, right here in the Snowy Mountains of Australia. It’s awesome to watch our local riders and ambassadors put up such a strong fight on home turf against the internationals.”
“Bringing back the iconic 90s style Dual Slalom event this year was such a nostalgic experience for me and the wider mountain bike community. The crowds were huge and the park conditions were as good as they get this week. It’s been one of our biggest and best Cannonballs so far,” said Windshuttle.
Year on year the Cannonball MTB Festival has attracted more elite riders to Australia, with international talent competing alongside home grown world beaters. Although there are 5 days of events with plenty of racing, the Cannonball DH on Saturday really counts for bragging rights. It was Jackson Frew who won the men’s event from a star-studded line up, with Nina Hoffman from the Santa Cruz Syndicate winning the women’s with local Sian A’Hern just 0.7 of a second behind!
After the downhill finals, the crowds shift to the Whip Wars. Huge crowds arrived to watch the pro riders send it into the stratosphere. After a huge show of whips and tricks, it was young riders 14-year-old Archie Young and 13-year-old Indi Lambert who impressed the judges the most and took out the wins.
On the final night, Luke Meier-Smith and Ellie Smith were crowned the King and Queen of Cannonball, having tallied up the most points at each event throughout the week. Happy 10th Birthday Cannonball, that was an epic party. See you in 2025.