At the Ride Wollongong festival program launch (from left) Illawarra Cycle Club vice president Garry Doughty, Lord Mayor Tania Brown, GM3 representative Mira Speer and Destination Wollongong general manager Jeremy Wilshire. Photo: Supplied.
Illawarra cyclists are set to race in their own backyard, with the inaugural 16-day Ride Wollongong Festival of Cycling to include Wollongong’s first two-day ICC Road and Criterium Tour, the Brennan Illawarra Tour.
An official festival program spanning 29 August to 13 September, 2026 was released this week, with more than 20 riding, racing, learning and community events from the Blue Line Community Ride to the Kembla MTB & History Schools Rides and a closing Family Fun Day at Lang Park.
A key event will be the Brennan Illawarra Tour, which will bring junior and senior riders onto some of the region’s most challenging and scenic roads and make state-level racing more accessible for the growing Illawarra Cycling Club members.
Club vice president Garry Doughty said the tour, which was part of the NSW/ACT Road Series, marked a major milestone for the club.
“It’s the first time we’re doing the two-day tour in the history of the club,” Mr Doughty said.
He said on 5 and 6 September, riders from under 13s through to seniors would have the opportunity to take in the three-stage event, which offered different styles of racing, including a fast and technical circuit race on the Illawarra Criterium Circuit and a challenging road race featuring the iconic Mt Keira climb.
“On the Sunday at West Dapto there’s longer road races, which include a climb up Marshall Mount, which is pretty decent,” he said.
“It’s not a European-style climb, but it’s short and very sharp.”
Mr Doughty said it was difficult to predict rider numbers for a first-time event, but the club expected about 250 to 300 riders across all grades after the success of a West Dapto event a month ago.
“We recently held an annual event we’ve been running for 67 years, and it attracted just over 200 riders and that was seniors only,” he said.
For Mr Doughty, one of the biggest wins was what the event would do for junior development.
He said the club had built a strong junior culture, where riders began training from about nine years old.
“This is a pathway for them,” he said.
“Because it’s in your own town, you’re a lot more likely to get riders who say, ‘I’m not a top rider, I don’t want to travel to Orange, but if it’s in my own town, I want to compete in the C grade or the D grade’.”
He said the club was pleased to see the event as part of the inaugural Ride Wollongong festival, which was a big investment for the club due primarily to traffic control costs.
“To be part of something which we’ve never seen before in Wollongong and to be part of something so large, is just terrific,” he said.
“We’re a racing cycle club, but there’s so many other events that are part of it.
“It’s great to see all of Wollongong involved and benefiting from cycling education and what they’re trying to do is make it more acceptable to the general public.”
In fact, Mr Doughty said the Illawarra Cycling Club now boasted more than 300 members, the highest member base in its history, putting it in the top few clubs in the state.
“A lot of that has come about because of the criterion circuit at Unanderra, which was a legacy from the [UCI Road] Worlds,” he said.
Destination Wollongong general manager Jeremy Wilshire said the festival program reflected Wollongong’s growing reputation as one of Australia’s great cycling cities, which had continued to evolve since hosting the UCI Road World Championships in 2022.
“This is the moment the festival becomes real,” Mr Wilshire said.
“What the program shows is that Ride Wollongong is not just one race or one weekend. This is 16 straight days of cycling activity across the city.”
The festival begins on 29 August with AusCycling mountain biking programs at Mt Kembla and Cringila, before the first major community feature event, the Blue Line Community Ride, takes riders from Stanwell Park to Wollongong on 30 August.
Across the following two weeks, students will take part in Kembla MTB & History Schools Rides, while the program expands to include road racing, education courses, inclusive cycling opportunities and community participation events.
Ride Wollongong Festival of Cycling organiser Stuart Barnes said the strength of the program was its variety.
“The beauty of this festival is that it brings together so many different parts of the cycling community,” Mr Barnes said.
“It is a real celebration of cycling in all its forms.”
The final weekend will bring the festival home with the AusCycling Road Cycling Foundation Skills Course on 12 September, followed by a major Sunday program featuring Ride4Rotary, IBUG-supported rides, Kids and All Abilities Loop the Lighthouse and the Festival Family Fun Day at Lang Park.
Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown said the festival would showcase the city’s natural cycling assets and strong community spirit.
“Wollongong is perfectly placed for a festival like this. We have the coastline, the escarpment, the trails, the roads and, most importantly, a community that loves getting involved,” Cr Brown said.
View the full program at Ride Wollongong.