MS Gong Ride 2022 (Postponed 2021) - New Date: 06/11/2022

[AndrewCowley]

My guess is the problem starts when control of the course has to be handed over to the Police. Not only the NP section, but outside of the NP on the other side of Stanwell Tops, there is another section where the Police control the descent.

The event either needs to reduce the numbers or find a new route. The route has become a joke anyway; it seems to get shorter every year.

Could it use the old Princes Highway instead?

Going back to the Bobbin Head Classic as a comparison ... The numbers for that event are such that there is no need for Police to manage the descent down into Bobbin Head or the descent down into Akuna Bay. Having done both events many times, the Bobbin and Akuna descents are far more risky than any descent on the Gong ride. It's all about the numbers.

With a properly thought out course, making sure to take into account the number of participants, the Police controlled sections can surely be avoided. The Gong organisers need to spend less time on spam emails and more time on things like this.

If there is no way to run a cycling event of any size through the NP and surrounds without the Police controlled sections, then I would argue it's beholden on the organisers to find a new route. It's a pi$$ take at the moment.

[peter]

Not sure what caused the first rider to fall, the second one might have been the one that held up.

[andrei]

I didn't find the descent even vaguely dangerous or difficult, and everyone was sensible in the narrow section. Nothing even close to a hairy moment occured.

I agree that the communications with those riders who were held at the top of the Waterfall descent were pretty poor. We were advised the reason was a crash, but all I saw was a single female rider descending slowly, being escorted by a motorbike rider with hazards blinking (first aid responder I suspect)... They were saying there was a serious safety issue with gravel.

There was someone on FB complaining about the condition of the road but I suspect some comment moderation going on as I can't seem to find the comment anymore.

Edit: Seems comment is still there, just wasn't showing up on mobile.

Communication could have been clearer for those at the top but personally I had no issues with the road, before commencing the descent they did say to keep to the left lane and look out for the gravel and single lane further down, of course that didn't stop a handful of people flying down the right lane anyway but majority were well behaved, personally I just settled in behind a group of riders travelling at a comfortable pace.

Illawarra Mercury reports a male rider in their 30's taken to Wollongong Hospital by ambulance with suspected head and arm injuries, unfortunately behind a paywall, hopefully they will make a full recovery, unfortunate to see anyone injured participating for charity.

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/sto ... ollongong/

It's understood some riders were held up for two hours due to multiple cycling accidents in the Royal National Park

I suspect multiple incidents, the queue was moving, albeit slowly until we got around the carpark but then it just stopped. Anyway kudos to the participants, no-one trying to push in line, when I started the descent I was still with the exact same group I started with on the off-ramp.

[Retrobyte]

Illawarra Mercury reports a male rider in their 30's taken to Wollongong Hospital by ambulance with suspected head and arm injuries, unfortunately behind a paywall

This fixes paywalls .... https://12ft.io/

[peter]

This fixes paywalls .... https://12ft.io/

Not that wall, it's a proper authentication and authorisation wall, not a simple Javascript wall.