{"id":923901,"date":"2026-10-11T05:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T05:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/923901\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T05:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T05:54:19","slug":"nannup-becomes-first-town-outside-europe-to-host-international-gravel-cycling-world-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/923901\/","title":{"rendered":"Nannup becomes first town outside Europe to host international gravel cycling world championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tiny town in southern Western Australia has become the first location outside Europe to hold an elite gravel cycling world championship.<\/p>\n

Nannup, about 268 kilometres south of Perth, hosted thousands of cyclists and spectators this weekend for the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships.<\/p>\n

It was a major coup for the historic timber town, which is building its reputation as a mountain biking destination.<\/p>\n

\"Crowds<\/p>\n

Crowds line the streets of Nannup for the Gravel World Championships. (ABC South West WA: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

With the event expected to draw a global audience of up to 130 million people, Shire of Nannup Deputy President Vicki Hansen said securing it had taken years of work.<\/p>\n

“Not many people even knew how to pronounce Nannup,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Now, Nannup, Western Australia is across the world.”<\/p>\n

\"Vicki<\/p>\n

Vicki Hansen says it took years of work to secure the event. (ABC South West WA: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

The hills and forests surrounding the town have proven the ideal terrain for mountain biking, with Ms Hansen hopeful the event would showcase the local trails.<\/p>\n

\"Cyclists<\/p>\n

The event attracted almost 1,000 competitors from all over the world. (ABC South West WA: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

“We want all these international riders, who didn’t qualify, but have seen the event, to come on over,” Ms Hansen said.<\/p>\n

Competitors raced over two days, traversing courses of up to 144km through the Blackwood Valley.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Close to 1,000 cyclists are racing through the Blackwood Valley. (Supplied: SWPix)<\/p>\n

“Nannup itself is only 70 metres above sea level but within a kilometre or less than that it suddenly increases to 300 metres above sea level,” Shire President Tony Dean said.<\/p>\n

“In that elevation \u2026 we’ve got the gravel itself.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dutch cyclist Marianne Vos is the first person to win the gravel world championships twice. (Supplied: SWPix)<\/p>\n

Dutch cyclist Marianne Vos took out the elite women’s title in 4 hours and 30 minutes, followed by Germany’s Rose Kloser and the Netherlands’ Larisa Hartog.<\/p>\n

It was the second championship victory for the two-time Olympic medallist.<\/p>\n

Journey to Nannup<\/p>\n

This year will be the fifth UCI Gravel World Championships event held, with previous events taking place in Italy and Belgium.<\/p>\n

Wendy Oosterwoud, who travelled almost 30 hours from the Netherlands to compete in Nannup, said it was her first time outside of Europe.<\/p>\n

“I think the flight was 21 hours, the drive to Amsterdam was almost two hours, [and] from Perth to Nannup was almost three,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’m really happy to see this part of the world.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Wendy Oosterwoud says travelling to the Nannup gravel races was her first time outside Europe. (Supplied: Wendy Oosterwoud)<\/p>\n

The Dutch cyclist has claimed seven podium titles, including winning the women’s elite at a gravel world series in Poland this year.<\/p>\n

She said the Nannup course was broader than those overseas.<\/p>\n

“Here in Nannup, it’s wide gravel roads,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But in the Netherlands \u2026 you have, I think, 200 corners, left right, left right.”<\/p>\n

\"Nils<\/p>\n

Nils Lageman says the race is the most significant of its kind in the world. (ABC South West WA: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

German cyclist Nils Lageman made the journey from his home near Cologne to compete in the 35-39 age group.<\/p>\n

“The world championships were calling, and I just had to respond, wherever it is,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It looks great because of the nature.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

US cyclists Tim Borsetti, Mark Litrell and John Steward had never heard of Nannup until the the event (ABC South West WA: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

Many international cyclists said they had never heard of Nannup, until the event, including US cyclist Tim Borsetti.<\/p>\n

“I targeted this because I knew it would be an awesome event, because you guys have big wide roads like we do in the States,” he said.<\/p>\n

‘Spreading the love’<\/p>\n

With a regular population of about 1,000 people, accommodation in Nannup has been fully booked for the event.<\/p>\n

Mr Dean said a tent city, and visitors staying in other nearby towns, had helped share the load.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Nannup welcomed the visiting cyclists and spectators with open arms. (ABC South West WA: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

“We’re spreading the love between Nannup and the rest of the South West,” he said.<\/p>\n

“With that many visitors, they’re going to have to commute, unfortunately.”<\/p>\n

It has proven a win for some local businesses, with cafe owner Hayley Rubery registering one of the busiest days she could remember.<\/p>\n

\"Spectators<\/p>\n

Tents and accommodation in surrounding communities helped Nannup handle the bumper crowds. (ABC South West WA: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

“We had a 700 per cent increase in revenue to a normal Friday. It’s insane,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We sold five days’ worth of milk in one day, and we’ve never made more toasties in our entire lives.”<\/p>\n

\"Hayley<\/p>\n

Hayley Rubery says the event brought a 700 per cent jump in business. (ABC South West WA: Georgia Loney)<\/p>\n

With the town’s previous events leaning towards smaller-scale arts and culture festivals, Ms Rubery said they had been unsure what to expect.<\/p>\n

“We prepped anyway and thank God we did.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tiny town in southern Western Australia has become the first location outside Europe to hold an elite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":923902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,784,57434,491591,491589,18572,491590,67637,491593,41844,491592,588,85,491587,491588,45],"class_list":["post-923901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-gravel-cycling","tag-gravel-riding-wa","tag-gravel-world-championships-nannup","tag-mountain-biking","tag-mountain-biking-in-wa","tag-nannup","tag-nannup-trail-riding","tag-south-west-news","tag-south-west-wa-mountain-bike-trails","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-uci-gravel-world-championships","tag-uci-gravel-world-championships-start-list","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=923901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/923902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=923901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=923901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=923901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}