The Castlemaine Rocky Riders Mountain Bike Club’s popular Dirt Crits Series starts on Thursday November 5 and registrations are now open!
Dirt Crits is a junior cross country mountain bike event series, consisting of 10 rounds of mountain biking fun.
Five events will be held in November-December 2026 and a further five in February-March 2027 at the Walmer Day visitor Area, Daltons Road Castlemaine.
Dirt Crits are run as a handicapped format, with individual start times and laps to complete. So on any given week, anyone can win!
There are two categories: Dirt Cubs (age 4-7) and Dirt Masters (ages 8-14).
Castlemaine Rocky Riders member and Dirt Crits coordinator Chris McCarthy said the Dirt Crits were all about fun.
“We encourage riders of all abilities to come and have a go, either to compete, or to just roll around and enjoy our local trails in a friendly and inclusive environment,” he said.
New timing app developed
When he is not coordinating junior mountain bike events, Chris McCarthy teaches Computer Science at Swinburne University.
Chris’s two worlds recently collided when six of his final year students took on the challenge of designing a new user-friendly app to assist the Castlemaine Rocky Riders with timing the weekly junior Dirt Crits events. The new app is set to be officially launched at the November 5 season opener.
“We were utilising quite a formal and complicated professional race app, which was daunting for many of our parent helpers,” Chris said.
“There was no flexibility or margin for error. This meant timing was often left to myself, my son Max, and a third helper Ross Richards.
“My students took on the task of designing the new app specifically tailored to our needs from the ground up, and the final result is a really slick, professional app which can be dowloaded from app store on iphone or Android and easily utilised by parent helpers to time our events.
“We have riders ranging from beginners to seasoned campaigners. Each week they are racing to improve on and beat their previous personal best times and handicaps are set accordingly.
“This new app looks at the maps, times etc and calibrates everything handicaps, start times etc. Essentially anyone can win on any given week if they can beat their previous week’s performance.
“It has been a really valuable experience as it has not only given my students a hand-on, tangible task, but it has created something of genuine value which is going to be a wonderful asset to our volunteer club.
“We’d love to welcome more parent helpers into the fold to continue the success of this series as timekeepers, course marshals etc and this app now makes it easier for parents to get involved.”
Family friendly
The weekly events kick off at 5.30pm and wrap up about 7pm.
“Many families will stay on and enjoy a barbecue and catch up with other families. It’s a great community,” Chris said.
“We have been running the crits for more than a decade now and it’s great to see some of our original riders helping out behind the scenes as volunteers and giving back. And, of course, the young ones love having the teenagers encouraging them on the sidelines.
“The dirt crits are a great stepping stone into the sport and many of our young riders have gone on to compete at state and national level.”
Cost of entry for each week of timed riding is just a gold coin donation.
To register, get in touch via the Castlemaine Rocky Riders Facebook page or visit www.rockyriders.com for more information.
