Matt Jones Reveals Ravine Gap Removed from Red Bull Hardline

Over the weekend, reckless ringleaders Gee Atherton and Barnard Kerr released images of a new addition to the course at Red Bull Hardline : an enormous gap jump that sends riders nearly a hundred feet above a ravine.

Immediately, commenters on the internet expressed their concerns about the safety of such an exposed wooden feature that would almost surely be slick on race day. Their fears were not alleviated when Jim Monro had a terrifying crash on his first attempt.

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On Wednesday, Matt Jones revealed in his course preview that the organizers pulled the plug on the gap for 2024 and rerouted the track back onto the old course. Jones had the following to say in his video.

“We have had confirmation that the river gap will not be included in this weekend's race. It all came together a little bit late with the river Gap…obviously Hardline's not going anywhere [and] that's a feature that we could expect to see in the future but just not this year”

Matt’s brother Jono’s preview shows the crew hard at work building the reroute.

It is probably a good decision to remove the feature from the course. Though it is not the biggest or hardest jump on the course, the consequences are dire. The prospect of hitting it at race pace only adds to the danger.

This reroute is another example of Hardline organizers being open to athlete feedback. At Hardline Tasmania, builders worked tirelessly to make the jumps more accessible after David MacMillan broke his femur while testing the course.

Perhaps in years to come, racers will be comfortable including the jump in the race when they have more time to prepare.

As it stands, Red Bull Hardline is still the gnarliest race track in the world. Watch the top 3 runs from the 2022 race below.

Tune in to Red Bull TV this weekend to watch the Red Bull Hardline broadcast live.