It’s the event that some would argue is now the benchmark for MTB.

Famed as the most challenging downhill mountain bike race worldwide, Red Bull Hardline gets you hooked on the world of this extreme sport. Whether you’re new to the scene or a hardcore follower, watching these athletes do the seemingly impossible is nothing short of impressive and addictive.

Taking place in the stunning Dyfi Valley in Dinas Mawddwy, Mid Wales UK, Hardline has been held annually in the UK since 2014, making this year’s event its 10th anniversary.

We’re so proud to have supported this iconic race again by supplying the athletes with custom changing robes, to keep them warm and dry between rides.⁠

You can get your hands on one of them here.

The Course

A thrilling new course was revealed to mark the occasion and, with the absence of last year’s event due to the relentless poor weather, this year’s event has been hugely anticipated.

In the run-up to the weekend, a radical new jump was introduced… but then later removed due to its extreme nature - which speaks for itself considering Hardline's daredevil reputation.

For anyone who’s curious, the River Gap was a 70ft jump over a ravine with a sheer, sick-to-the-stomach drop. Three world-leading mountain bike riders Bernard Kerr, Matt Jones, and Jim Monro put the new addition to the test in the lead-up to the event. Kerr and Jones cleared the crazy jump but Monro wasn’t so fortunate and came off his bike mid-air, but thankfully made it to the other side of the ravine in a crash landing. Luckily Monro didn't suffer any serious injuries.

2024 course features in a nutshell :

Camberlands
Rock Drop
Step Down
Off the Wall
Dirty Ferns
The Double
Road Gap
Wet Whoops
Out of the Woods
The Final Fly Off

Dan Atherton is the visionary behind the notorious track, which is adapted and made more challenging year-on-year. In recent times, he has worked alongside his brother and MTB pro rider brother Gee Atherton to amp up the intensity of the course!

For 2024, the top section was reimagined to hype up the technical requirements of the riders. Firstly, a higher starting point was introduced to get the course going, followed by a hotbed of sketchy, jagged, and janky rocks for riders to struggle their way through before heading onto the rest of the wild course.

The Hardline course is a legendary amalgamation of dirt jumping, BMX, and motocross elements, encompassing everything from outrageous jumps to stomach-churning drops of 10 meters and inconceivably steep descents.

The iconic Road Gap was as awe-inspiring as ever, with racers essentially flying across, you’ve guessed it, the road before landing and turning into a tight corner, ready to fly through the woods before reaching the Final Fly Off and finish line.

The Build Up

Before the first day of action even kicked off, history was made at Hardline 2024. Earlier in the week, Hardline saw four female riders complete the most iconic and daring feature of the course - the Road Gap. Cami Nogueira, Hannah Bergemann, Tahnée Seagrave, and Vaea Verbeeck took to the track to successfully jump in a never-before-completed feat for women riders. This is an epic achievement and a super exciting progression in the sport. We’re stoked to see this happen, especially after Gracey Hemstreet and Louise-Anna Ferguson became the first-ever women in the history of Hardline to compete as riders in the Red Bull Hardline Tasmania final.

Watch the action here.

Another epic moment from 2024 was when Moto legend Jonny Walker completed the epic course on a motorbike in a bid to find out what was faster, MTB or Moto. Want to know if MTB or Moto rules Hardline? No spoilers from us, find out here!

Finals Day

The vibes on Sunday were high and excited energy flowed through the valley as the riders got ready to take on the world’s most challenging downhill MTB course.

Despite the blazing sunshine, the weather in the valley can be temperamental and with the wind causing concern around the start time of 2:20 pm, the event was pushed back by two hours. By the time 4:30 pm rolled around, the crowd was pumped and ready to watch the downhill MTB show of the year.

The finals saw the riders amp up their skill and courage on the track, breaking some of the previous day’s results on the seeding runs, and taking the finals to a whole new level.

The treacherous track took some victims, wrecking the tires and chains of some unlucky riders, meaning three couldn’t complete the course.

As the quickest qualifier in the seeding runs the day before, Rónán Dunne took to the course last but certainly not least. The 21-year-old Irish athlete previously won Hardline in Tasmania back in February and was the rider that everyone’s eyes were on as Red Bull’s newest MTB athlete. Earlier in the week, he received his official Red Bull helmet, awarded by fellow rider Matt Jones, to launch his sponsorship.

With a phenomenal final performance by 3-time champion Bernard Kerr, there was palpable anticipation as to whether Kerr’s incredible time of 2:24.327 could be beaten by Dunne.

Dunne made the course look easy. He glided down the track, beating his own qualifying time by four seconds, cementing his status as the Hardline Champion with an astounding double win. It was incredible to see him fly through the finish line with an unfathomable time of 2:23.045, making the crowd and commentary go WILD.

British rider Bernard Kerr took silver and Juanfer Muñoz from Colombia took third place on the podium with an impressive time of 2:25.234. Both hands were on the handlebars for the final, unlike his qualifying run where he charmed the crowds with his daring hands-free jump over the Road Gap!

You could see throughout the event how much completing the course meant to the riders, and the hunger to be crowned Hardline champ. What stood out even more was the incredible support and sportsmanship between the riders across the weekend, especially on finals day, and the pride between the riders in what each had achieved.

Big thank you to everyone who made this incredible event possible and a massive shoutout to Rob Warner and Tahnee Seagrave for the fantastic final commentary.

Bring on Hardline 2025!

Full results:

Rónán Dunne - 2:23.045
Bernard Kerr - 2:24.327
Juanfer Muñoz- 2:25.234
Charlie Hatton - 2:26.256
Matteo Iniguez - 2:27.502
Sebastian Holguin -2:29.700
Adam Brayton - 2:29.702
Sam Blenkinsop - 2:29.790
George Brannigan - 2:30.426
Harry Molloy - 2:33.935
Brook McDonald - 2:36.330
Josh Bryceland - 2:36.545
Josh Lowe - 2:38.355
Alex Storr - 2:38.776
Brendan Fairclough - 2:38.916
Taylor Vernon- 2:41.952
Dennis Luffman - 2:43.253
Sam Gale - 2:44.025
Craig Evans - 2:46.062
Edgar Briole - 2:51.253
Sam Hockenhull - 2:53.331
Vincent Tupin - 2:53.885
Thibault Laly - 3:43.121
Thomas Genon - 3:53.361
Matt Jones - DNF
Jono Jones - DNF
Theo Erlangsen - DNF

You can watch all of the action from the event over on Red Bull TV.

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Photos courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool - Dan Griffiths, Sven Martin, Samantha Saskia Dugon, Nathan Hughes

Published on June 07, 2024