Dirty Warrny - A historic twist for Australia’s newest gravel event

Look through the newspaper archives from the late 1890’s and early 1900’s and they paint a picture of a Melbourne to Warrnambool – or Warrnambool to Melbourne as it was back then – where the hardiest of souls raced through a long and unpredictable day on rough roads, with cheering crowds lining the streets to spur them as they charged through the towns along the way.

The race that wound its way through locations like Camperdown and Winchelsea had an undeniable spirit of adventure as it traversed the course which included large swathes of unsealed roads that tested both man and machine, with a 1904 publication describing some as “inches deep with sticky mud, and, in some places, they were swamps.”

Today’s version of the long-running road race, known as the Warrny for short, still holds a strong historical anchor and a reputation as one of the hardest events on the calendar but the change to smoother more predictable road surfaces and to the route of the race so it mostly skirt around population centres – largely dictated by traffic management considerations – has altered the feel. However, the newest of gravel events in Australia, the 246km Dirty Warrny, on Saturday November 5 is expected to make what was old, new again. 

"We wanted that feel of an epic, tough event – what the Warrny used to be like 100 years ago," Dirty Warrny event director Karin Jones told Cyclingnews in the months leading up to the first edition of the new timed gravel challenge.

"It will definitely be a throwback to history. Many, many years ago they did ride on gravel roads and go through towns and the crowds were just incredible."

The inaugural edition of the Dirty Warrny – which carries the tag line of 'For Gravel. For Guts. For Glory.' – is 84% unsealed and the 246km course includes over 3,000m of climbing.

It will start at a winery, Mt Duneed Estate, near Geelong. The riders will then go through Deans Marsh and toward the towering trees of the Otways, with riders tackling the longest climb of the event, Norman Track, before reaching Barwon Downs. After that it is onto the mountain bike town of Forrest, nearly 110km in.

After riders head out of the Otways and through the town of Simpson they will work their way over the rolling hills of the Heytesbury and into Timboon as just a few kilometres shy of 200km into the event. After leaving the town of Timboon it is onto the long straight roads surrounding Warrnambool for the final push through to finish on the foreshore of the coastal Victorian city, where at times whales can be spotted frolicking near the coast line.

Given it is the first year of the event there are no previous editions to look back on to see how the race to be the first rider in Warrnambool is likely to play out but there have been reconnaissance rides that offer some clues. Three-time Australian cyclocross champion Lisa Jacobs was on an early test ride last year which, on top of helping in the process of turning the idea seeded by former AusCycling Chairman Duncan Murray into a reality, delivered some insights into the route.

“The climbing is spread out over nearly 250km, so it's not a pure climbers course,” Jacobs told Cyclingnews. “But having said that if you are a climber there are sections where you can really push it and you will be at a distinct advantage.”

“The fast ones will be doing it in about nine and half hours I think, that’s my prediction, maybe nine, but I think it will be around the nine and half hour mark. There will be other people who are out there all day who are just doing it really tough.”

The cut off time at the finish line is 8:30pm, last light, which is 15 hours after the start of the 246km event as it sets off at 5:30am on the morning of Saturday November 5. The timed event also includes a shorter, but still challenging, 140km option from Forrest, starting at 7:30am.

“The beauty of these rides is that there is something for everyone and every one is going to have a story,” said Jacobs.

Creating a new level of challenge

There has been heavy rain and flooding through much of the state of Victoria in the run up to the event, so there are bound to be some wet and soft roads but the weather forecast for the event day is fine and a comfortable 20°C.

Former professional road riders Simon Gerrans – who won the Melbourne to Warrnambool in 2003 – and Mitch Docker are on the start list along with Matt Bird, who last month represented Australia at the first UCI Gravel World Championships and also came third behind Adam Blazevic and Nathan Haas at the UCI Gravel World Series race in Nannup earlier this year. Also among those lining up is the winner of the 2020 Melbourne to Warrnambool road race Brendan Johnston, who also this year took out the Australian Gravel title, and 2022 runner-up Brenton Jones.

Two names that stand out in the elite women’s category are Courtney Sherwell and Kate Kellett. Sherwell has won the Great Otway Gravel Grind for two years running and also took third at the Beechworth UCI Gravel World Series event in August. There is no doubt Kellett – who finished one spot behind Sherwell at both the Great Otway Gravel Grind and Gravelista in 2022 – has proven experience over long distances having snared silver at the World 24 Hour Solo Mountain Bike Championships in 2018.

Given Australia has never seen a race quite like this it may be a mystery at this point who is going to clock the fastest time but one certain thing is that this is an event that fills a clear gap in the gravel calendar in Australia.

Among the ever growing array of gravel challenges the distances don’t usually even get close to those of the high profile US events like Unbound. The Dirty Warrny will change that and even though it’s a new addition it still comes with a built in sense of history and adventure thanks to its tie back to the early days of Australia's longest running race.