Red Bull Hardline has shifted to a summer date, away from its usual autumn calendar slot. For 2023, the Dyfi Valley event will take place on 15th and ...
By stwhannah
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https://singletrackmag.com/2023/02/red-bull-hardline-gets-summer-date-for-2023-tickets-on-sale-now/
Surely a mid-season Hardline won't attract as many racers given how high consequence it is?
I think they're testing the waters with the dates, a lot of riders aren't happy with how the UCI is running things and there's still uncertainty as to how this new shift with discovery will pan out.
I think red bull are gonna make it more lucrative than the UCI races and are gonna try to erm, not compete, but split how things are gonna pan out in the downhill and racing scene, might be core riders still racing UCI downhill but might be a bigger subculture of riders racing under red bull events?
Sandwiched between 2 national DH at Llangollen and Bala, which would mean 3 weekends in Wales on the bounce. So I'm a no sadly
The price has gone up a lot. Last year a Saturday ticket was £63.60 and it's £94 this year. It was good to see quite how big the features are in person but compared to a world cup there's a lot of time when there's nobody riding.
The price has gone up a lot. Last year a Saturday ticket was £63.60 and it’s £94 this year.
This.
I've been the last few years but I struggle to justify the cost to only see 2 or 3 runs down the hill on finals day. Hopefully that cost increase translates into bigger prize money and a follow up international series of races.
Well we've already for the new DH series coming in with Rob Warner on the mic and Crankworx. Add to that, from what i can see a Hardline win is £15,000 which is a LOT in MTB prize money terms (compared to other prize money for DH)
Hardline has traditionally been mid-Sept, after a UCI DH final round in early Sept. Now that we've got Mont St Anne in October, what are they supposed to do?
Suspect the sharp-end racers will give it a miss (esp with Worlds a few weeks later) and it'll be more of the freeridey lot this year.
Fair old whack for tickets huh?
Not for me unfortunately.
Hopefully I can still watch via other means.
I tend to enjoy all the vlogs etc leading up to it the most.
Suspect the sharp-end racers will give it a miss (esp with Worlds a few weeks later) and it’ll be more of the freeridey lot this year.
of the recent few years, its only really Kerr and Goldstone you could put in this category.
not to put down any of the others, but they probably aren't guaranteed TV time at a WC race, and probably arent in it for the overall either. So taking the risk of going for Hardline probably makes sense.
The price has gone up a lot. Last year a Saturday ticket was £63.60 and it’s £94 this year.
Yeah, but it's £94 for a car of 5 people. So if you filled a car it's £20 a ticket (roughly). Pretty cool to see them pushing car pooling as a means to getting to the event, and £20 for a day out is not too bad for the standard of riding you'll be watching.
Yeah, but it’s £94 for a car of 5 people. So if you filled a car it’s £20 a ticket (roughly).
Ah, didn't see that bit. That's better. 🙂
Ah, didn’t see that bit. That’s better. 🙂
Yeah I nearly fell off my perch until I realised!
I went last year to the Sunday finals, with my son.
It's a great spectacle, but it is quite a hard spectate. They run one at a time, and there can be some quite big gaps between them. Most of the big features are quite a scramble/hike apart too, so you have to absolutely peg it once one rider has gone to get to the next best viewing spot.
It sort of worked out OK for us, we watched the finals start up at the cannon, then saw a bit at the lilly pad section, a couple come through the road gap, then made it to the arena and saw the last three come in. Strava'd the hike, it was 1,186ft from the car park to the cannon in elevation gain!
We queued for the meet n greet and got the obligatory autographs, and pics.
A good day, but I've seen it now and unless any mates mustered up interest for a car full, I probably will give it a pass this time.
It will be interesting to see who turns up of the top riders who arent contractually obliged to be there. Especially with it being mid season and the consequences of injury to your primary job of WC racing for your employer. Having said that a lot of the top 10/20 are never there anyway
