By Callum Ludwig
The Yarra Ranges Downhill Festival returned better than ever in 2023, with riders from all around Australia and internationally descending on Mt Donna Buang over the weekend.
The event was held from Friday 3 March until Sunday 5 March, with events for skaters and street luge riders of all ages and genders.
Downhill skater Nick said he came down from New South Wales for the event.
“I’ve been racing for about 15 years now, and my background was in motorsport and sidecar racing, so it translated across easily. This is my third time here, and it’s really good hence why I’m back,” he said.
“At the moment, this is the only sanctioned race that we’ve got in the country which is a huge drawcard and it’s within a relatively easy driving distance from home as well. We’ve even had the road closed for three days even though it’s an entry-level event which is great.”
Ian has been skating for 45 to 50 years and came down from Brisbane for the event.
“I’ve been riding the luge as well for I don’t know how many years, and I just love this event. Sometimes it’s wet, sometimes it’s dry but it is always fun,” he said.
“Another part of it is the social side, I haven’t seen Nick since Donna last year and it’s great to catch up.”
Qualifying and free riding (for newer riders) took place on Saturday with the main racing on Sunday.
Graham Brittain took out the street luge race for the third year running and said despite the smaller field, the racing was pretty tough this year.
“Everyone collectively had improved their skills. People improved because of the nature of the hill, it gives you the ability to ease into it and then as some of the other competitors actually mentioned to me, they were able to improve their skills and work on certain corners,” he said.
“No one point of the hill is really technical, you can actually gradually work your way up to being quite competitive over the weekend. Some free riders started over the weekend and were actually doing full downhill runs by the end.”
Mr Brittain won bronze in the Street Luge Skateboarding at the World Skate Games in Argentina last year.
Mr Brittain said it was great to see what it is like on an international level and then bring that back to Australia for other riders to feed off of.
“Hopefully in turn that helps grow the Australian riders in their riding capabilities so that when we do have the next Skate Games in Italy next year, we have an even stronger luge team,” he said.
“Last year, Julian and I did quite well and hopefully whoever goes next year does as well.”
