DarkFEST Freeride Mountain Biking 2019 Returns
DarkFEST is set to hit Stellenbosch on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 February, and will be an action-packed event, with huge sends, brutal slams and massive hits with the best crew in MTB.
Talking about brutal slams, Sam Reynolds is out of the event.
On Tuesday evening the guys had a test session on the track, and started warming up on the step-up and drop, checking speed for the newly upgraded big beast of a trick jump. The nerves were high. The lip is around 5m tall with the landing 15m away, which makes this one of, if not the biggest trick jump ever!
After a few run-ins to eye it up, Sam decided to send it first. Not knowing what speed to head into it, his main concern was overshooting it. With such a steep landing you could end up coming down a long way. He went in fast, but not full speed and popped high off the lip. Unfortunately he just didn’t get the distance, and had to hit the eject button. He came down hard on the back of the landing, taking a lot of the impact on his foot, hip and shoulder all on his right, but his left hand and wrist took the brunt of the force and he fractured and dislocated some of his carpals and shattered the end of his ulna.
It’s surgery time for Sam.
Sam hitting the eject button © Eric Palmer
This obviously means he won’t be able to ride at DarkFEST, which we are sad to say, but the madness will still continue and Sam will be around to chat to fans and cheer his friends on!
“Absolutely devastated to say that I won’t be able to ride DarkFEST this year,” said Sam. “My wrist is badly broken, and am going in for a complicated surgery. Can’t wait to watch the boys send it from the sidelines though and I’m so motivated to get it back strong enough to ride this line again one day!”
The Hellsend Dirt Compound at the Vuurberg farm will be open to the public for 2 days only, with a limited batch of tickets up for grabs for the Friday 8th and Saturday 9th sessions, so we’re inviting you out to Stellenbosch to witness the boys throwing down on the DarkFEST jumps.
Food, drinks and beer as well as a limited run of DarkFEST merchandise will be available for purchase.
Confirmed Riders:
Clemens Kaudela
Nico Vink
Tom van Steenbergen
Adolf Silva
Brendan Fairclough
Ethan Nell
DJ Brand
Nicholi Rogatkin
Jordie Lunn
Graham Agassis
Matt Macduff
Tom Reynolds
Darryl Brown
Theo Erlangsen
Kurt Sorge
Makken