Bernard Kerr, Ronan Dunne, George Brannigan on the podium at Red Bull Hardline. Photo: Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool
George Brannigan picked up a creditable third placing at the Red Bull Hardline event, held over the weekend at Maydena Bike Park in Tasmania. Fellow New Zealand riders Sam Gale and Sam Blenkinsop finished in the top 10, while Brook Mcdonald came in 11th.
Irish rider Rónán Dunne won the event with a time of 3:08, just three seconds ahead of Brannigan and six ahead of Gale.
For the first time ever, female riders qualified for Sunday's final with Canadian Gracey Hemstreet and Scotland's Louise-Anna Ferguson taking part in the 28-rider race.
It was also the first Red Bull Hardline to be held outside of Wales in its decade-long history, something that was "overall a sick week" according to McDonald.
"I was probably a bit conservative, didn't bring the intensity that I really needed," he said.
"I probably brought that a couple of days ago, kinda just found my limit."
The Red Bull Hardline is aptly named, with the 2.3km long track taking around 3 and half minutes to complete.
It included a 10-metre vertical drop and the largest gap the riders had to jump being 23 metres.
The event was the culmination of a five-day mountain biking festival in Maydena, however the Red Bull Hardline was an invite-only event due to the tough nature of the course, one that McDonald described as "gnarly".
Jackson Goldstone at Red Bull Hardline in Maydena Bike Park. Photo: Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool
"It's a track that is designed to be kind of not possible until you figure everything out," he said on Friday.
"It's pretty sick because it's so different to what we are used to racing: like super high speed, big features, tick sections, bank jumps and just basically an all-round dream track for every rider that comes."
"I really can't complain about the event that Red Bull's put on," he added after Sunday's final.
"This is something that's going to go worldwide I reckon, it's going to take off. It's good riding bikes here."
For Mcdonald, it's another step in his remarkable recovery from a serious accident in 2019. At the UCI MTB World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, a horror crash left Macdonald temporarily paralysed with serious fractures to his T12 and L1 vertebrae.
He's now looking ahead to a new season with new team Forbidden Bikes, who he joined after leaving MS Mondraker.
"New team, new motivation, new structure, so just happy to be riding a sick bike - full complete change so it's nice."
McDonald, Gale and Blenkinsop will return to New Zealand to compete at the Crankworx event in Rotorua, held March.
