GOWAN GIRLS MTB FESTIVAL

What a wicked idea! Seriously. What a freaking awesome idea!! Let´s get a massive bunch of women, camping over in a trail infested field and give them jams, sessions, races, speakers, a movie night and music. And what? An airbag? GOWAAN GALS!!!​

The brainchild of hyped up biking duo Bex Barona (EWS slayer) and Martha Gill (Wheelie queen) was born into psyched family of female shredders last weekend. The troops desended onto Farmer John´s Field and the field was transformed into a mountain bike mecca; a full-on festival village with trade and demo stands, sign posted trails and a temple in the form of a 16ft Moroccan teepee within which there were expert talks, a DJ and a cosy-up for a screening of Vision Movie. Chick flick pyjama party nailed!

Over the weekend, guests were treated to a ton of activities kicking off with the official opening of Farmer John´s brand spanking new pumptrack. "Jam sessions" were also heavily featured, with everyone being encouraged to push themselves and get comfortable getting air time, beit on the jump line, long jump or (terrifying?) air bag.

Here´s what the dastardly pair themselves had to say about this incredibly special weekend:

"The weekend went better than we could have imagined! Obviously we planned it thoroughly but as a first time event and our first go at organising an event, we were buzzing that nothing negative cropped up and everything went to plan! The guests who came to the event go proper stuck in too, was awesome to see!

The weekend highlight was the airbag jam- I asked everyone to put their hands up at the start of the session if they were scared to do it and haven’t done it, to which most put their hands up…by the end of the session literally everyone had done it! Someone even tried a backflip!

We put the event on to inspire more people to try new things, get out their comfort zones but most importantly come to an environment that was super chilled, no egos, no pressures…just encouragement and a good vibe. From the feedback, the riders really felt that and pushed themselves all weekend! Gowaan started because both myself and Martha feel super comfortable to try new things and fail infant of each other and we always seem to push each others riding, so to be able to share that atmosphere was really special."

So of course, that leads me begging for more! But never fear...

"Oh for sure there will be a 2020! The feedback has been amazing, made all the long office days worth it, so we will try to figure out a date ASAP!"

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*Pics courtesy @lewisgregoryphoto