What are the Slopestyle National Championships?

Next weekend, we’ll have our first national champions in a sport you might never have heard of.

Just a few weeks since crowning Australia’s first esports champions, and a month after the first adaptive downhill national titles, we’re about to see the green-and-gold stripes awarded in another new event.

Greenvalleys Mountain Bike Park in NSW will host the first AusCycling MTB Slopestyle National Championships on April 19–20.

So, for the uninitiated, let’s dive headfirst into slopestyle: one of the gnarliest, most extreme ways to ride a bike.

What is Slopestyle?

You might recognise the name ‘Slopestyle’ from the Winter Olympics, where snowboarders and skiers ride down a course filled with massive ramps and rails, doing tricks.

MTB slopestyle takes that and puts it on wheels.

Instead of snow: use dirt.

Instead of skis: ride a bike.

Instead of ramps: well, you still have massive ramps and vertigo-inducing features (Google ‘boner log’ at your own risk).

Australia's Caroline Buchanan gets huge air in a slopestyle competition. (Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool)

The aim is to ride down the course, soaring high off each ramp or feature, and pulling off the most spectacular tricks you can. Ideally, without breaking any bones.

Dane Folpp, a 16-year-old rider from northern NSW, will be a contender for next week’s national title. He puts it this way: “For spectators it is the ultimate show. It is an extreme sport where riders put their bodies at risk and showcase their tricks.

“No different than the discipline of slopestyle skiing and snowboarding, it takes an incredible amount of training and practice to put down a technical, safe, clean run.”

How do you win?

In a slopestyle competition, you get multiple attempts (‘runs’) at riding the course. Your time doesn’t matter – it’s all about impressing the judges with your tricks.

Your run is judged on four criteria:

• Tricks: how difficult and original were they?
• Execution and Style: how smoothly did you pull them off?
• Air: how high did you fly? (This is also called ‘amplitude’)
• Overall impression: including the amount and variety of your tricks, and how you used the features.

The judges score your run out of 100. Highest score wins.

Slopestyle requires technical skill and style. (Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool)

Normally, each rider gets two runs. Only the best one counts; your lowest score is discarded.

In the cycling world, the closest analogy is BMX Freestyle Park (you know, the sport where Australia’s Logan Martin won gold at the Tokyo Olympics). Indeed, some of the best BMXers make great slopestyle riders. Except now they’re doing it down the steep side of a mountain.

What equipment does it take?

At the top level, riders use specific slopestyle bikes that can handle the extremes of the sport.

The frames are small and nimble, taking cues from BMX, allow you to quickly spin or whip the bike around in the air.

The drivetrain is usually single-speed – gears wouldn’t offer much help.

Slopestyle bikes need stability and agility in the air. (Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool)

Slopestyle bikes have front and rear suspension, but are set up stiff at around 100mm of travel in the rear. You want enough give to absorb the shock from a landing, but not so much to rob you of speed when pumping into the next jump.

A full-face helmet is a must, and body armour is a good idea, but many riders go sans gloves – the idea being that bare hands let you feel the bike better.

Why a national championship?

Slopestyle is still in its infancy. Its rise has a lot to do with Crankworx, a hugely popular series of mountain bike festivals that began in 2004 and boasts the world’s premier slopestyle competition.

Unlike most other cycling disciplines, slopestyle isn’t governed by the UCI. Instead, it’s run by the Freeride Mountain Bike Association (FMBA), which awards the world championship each year.

A slopestyle rider wows the crowd at Crankworx Cairns. (Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool)

While slopestyle has developed in the mountain resorts of the Europe and North America, Australia is becoming a recognised player in the scene.

Since 2022, Crankworx has added Cairns to its World Tour (you can watch last year's competition on YouTube). This year, for the first time the FMBA will award a women’s slopestyle world championship, and Australia’s off-road queen Caroline Buchanan is among the challengers.

Folpp says the first AusCycling Slopestyle National Championships will fuel the sport’s growth.

“Slopestyle is huge in other parts of the world, and it is becoming increasingly popular in Australia,” Folpp said.

“You only have to look around to see how many people are on dirt jumper bikes these days. The sport is growing, so AusCycling holding a national championship competition for slopestyle hosted by Greenvalleys MTB Park is insane.”

Folpp says hosting a national title will help develop the depth of Australian talent.

“The fact that AusCycling is holding a national championship gives me hope that one day it will become an Olympic sport. It certainly deserves it,” Folpp said.

“There is some incredible talent here in Australia and the only pathway for slopestyle riders to get invited to an overseas pro competition and get recognition at an international level is to compete in events like this.”

Ted Oakley, a 20-year-old competitor from Perth, agrees.

“I think having a national champs for slopestyle is really exciting for the sport and giving it an opportunity to grow,” Oakley said.

“I’m really grateful that there are slopestyle events like this in Australia to provide a stepping stone for riders looking to go overseas and compete.”

The 2024 AusCycling MTB Slopestyle National Championships will be held on April 19–20 at Greenvalleys Mountain Bike Park near Wollongong, NSW. For event information and spectator entry, visit the Greenvalleys website.

Feature photo: Greenvalleys Mountain Bike Park