Crocodile Trophy
Bart Blows The Didg - Bring On The Crocodile!
John Flynn / 19.10.2009
Having already achieved all that is possible in the sport of mountain biking including World Cup Championships, a World Championship and Olympic Gold, Bart Brentjens now has a new title to add to his glittering palmares ... 'didgeridoo exponent'. Before setting off this morning on his reconnaissance of the Crocodile Trophy's opening stage, the Dutch cycling great was treated to an impromptu didgeridoo lesson from fellow competitor Aaron Pickett-Heaps, who was taught to blow the didg many years ago by local Aborigines.
Just as he has done on the mountainbike, Bart proved to be a natural, albeit using a 'non-traditional' p.v.c. version of the sacred instrument, one that Pickett-Heaps (a didgeridoo crafts-man) has designed to survive the beating over ten days of the Crocodile Trophy.
As the mellow sound echoed across the hills that form the traditional country of the Djabugay people, mother nature responded by bringing torrential rain to the mythical rainforest mountains for the first time in many months.
"This is very beautiful, but the climb is really steep, tomorrow and will be very hard," Brentjens said as he assessed his chances for the Crocodile Trophy's opening stage. "It reminds me a lot of the first stage of Cape Epic," South-Africa's famous stage race which the Dutchman has competed in on four occasions.
Today's rain could prove to be a bonus for the protagonists of the 2009 Crocodile Trophy. The course was expected to be extremely dusty after an unseasonably dry winter in Australia's Tropical North.
The overcast and wet conditions, which are expected to continue, will also make the going easier for the visiting Europeans, who have been struggling to adjust to the warmer weather. "This is certainly not what we expected," Crocodile Trophy Supremo Gerhard Schoenbacher admitted as the race briefing, originally scheduled poolside on the Cairns Esplanade, was forced indoors.
"If the rain continues it could make the first stage even harder, although with 2400 metres of climbing, it is hard enough."
The Crocodile Trophy race start is scheduled for 9.30a.am. Tomorrow (AEST) on the Cairns Esplanade. The peloton will roll out from the tropical oasis of Cairns under police escort before commencing the journey to beautiful Lake Tinaroo on Australia's Tropical Tableland. See All Event Posts
