Red Bull Hardline Tasmania 2025 solidified its position as the pinnacle of extreme downhill mountain biking, presenting riders with an unprecedented test of skill and nerve. The event, held in the rugged Tasmanian landscape, challenged athletes on a course characterized by natural terrain and demanding man-made features.
The Course: A Brutal Natural and Man-Made Challenge
The Hardline Tasmania track prioritized technical difficulty over outright speed, featuring some truly huge jumps. We did see a difference in lines taken between the downhill & slopestyle riders especially in the technical sections. My favorite sections included
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The Cliff Drop: One of the biggest Drops I've ever seen, at least 8 meters high from a wooden offramp over a rocky cliff straight into a right handed berm.
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Road Gap: A Huge road Gap towering above a truly massive drop. The video doesn't do justice.
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Final Jump: This final Jump was a 90ft distance from Kicker to the top of the down ramp. With some riders landing halfway down the ramp jumping more than 100ft. With the crazy Matt Jones backflipping it in the race was truly insane.
Results: Performance and Resilience
- Jackson Goldstone Secured Victory: Redeemed himself after his season ending crash at last years Hardline Tasmania. The 21 year old Canadian secured the win by only 0.233 of a second to Asa Vermette the youngest ever Hardline competitor at just 18 years old from American.
- Gracey Hemstreet - Women's Winner: This year the women's category featured its own prizes with Gracey barreling down without any issues winning the first ever women's title.
- Dan Booker - Rider of the week: Tasmania's own Daniel booker was unable to break the curse. After an unfortunate crash last year, he suffered a rear flat only half a second behind the lead at the third split. With all of the Tasmanian behind him everyone was happy he made it down in one piece, as he was still nursing an injury from 3 weeks prior.
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Notable Mention: Seeing both Gee Atherton & Sam Hill remaining competitive at 39 years of age was super cool. Both of these riders were some of my childhood hero's with the Hardline event being founded by the Atherton Brothers Dan & Gee.
Given the track's difficulty, finishing Hardline Tasmania was a significant accomplishment in itself.
Crashes: Inherent Risk and Rider Safety
Crashes are an unavoidable aspect of Hardline events, and Tasmania 2025 was no exception. Unfortunately this year we saw some of the hardest crashes happen in practice on the Friday.
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Erice van Leuven: Had a huge crash off the cliff in practice that resulted in a broken back, neck, wrist and a bunch of other scrapes and bruises. We wish her a speedy recovery.
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Edgar Briole: Had a massive crash, coming up a little short on the 80ft Creek gap.
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Elise Empey: Stacked it in practice on the cliff drop, The Atherton Team rider was lucky enough to walk away with swollen elbows but unable to compete in the Women's championship.
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Ronan Dunne: The defending championship showing the importance of proper headgear with gnarly crash in practice. Luckily he walked away without any serious injury.
See Video
Event organizers maintained a strong focus on rider safety, with dedicated medical and support teams present throughout the competition. This year we saw a number of spectators taken out by due to the steep, slippery & dusty surface of the tracks.
Event Summary: Hardline's Continued Impact
This year hardline was bigger and better than ever, with increased jumps in the last section and all the gap's being bigger than the last years. With more viewing platforms and space this years event felt much smoother with over 6000 spectators passing through the gates. The challenging course was a spectacle for both riders and spectators with some amazing live footage from the camera operators and skillful FPV Drone pilots. The event pushes the limits of downhill mountain biking and the exceptional athleticism and we are so lucky to have such an amazing event right in our backyard.
Winners POV
Next Year
If you are contemplating coming down for next year I highly recommend it. The energy is electrifying for both the two days with an awesome afterparty happening after the event on Saturday night. Seeing some of the worlds best riders hit some of the biggest jumps ever seen is truly breath taking. My advice would be to organize accommodation as early as possible as spots are limited. There are options on Air BnB close to the event as well as camping and caravan spots located very close to the park. There are also busses available from Hobart To Maydeena and the drive is around 1hr 20mins from Hobart.
