DH racer in black and red kit ripping a fresh dark-loam berm at Thredbo with chairlift towers in the background

Thredbo Is Building A Brand New DH Track — And Darcy Coutts Is On The Tools

Thredbo has been threatening a new DH track for 30 years. It's finally happening — and they got the right person for the job. Darcy Coutts, the man behind the Red Bull Hardline course at Maydena and the new DH at Falls Creek, is building Thredbo a UCI-spec ripper that will christen Cannonball 2027.

The headline numbers

  • 1.8km long — full proper modern DH track length
  • UCI-spec — built to a standard that could host a World Cup
  • ~3-minute race target — bang on the current global DH benchmark
  • 350-400m vertical drop — accessed from the top of the Merrits Gondola
  • Opposite side of the resort to Cannonball DH — completely different terrain, different dirt, different vibe
  • Race debut: Cannonball MTB Festival 2027

Why this is huge for Australian DH

Thredbo has always been one of Australia's downhill homes. The Cannonball track has been around almost as long as some of us have been alive. But it's a long, fire-road-rooted, old-school DH track — built for a different era of the sport.

Modern World Cup DH is about three-minute race times. Tight, intense, technical, decided by the cleanest run rather than the rider with the most stamina. The international race teams who used to come to Cannonball for pre-season warm-ups have started skipping it because the Cannonball track is too long compared to what they actually race overseas.

This new track fixes that. Tim Windshuttle, Thredbo's MTB Business Manager, told Flow Mountain Bike that the goal is to give both elite international racers and the Aussie junior pipeline a track that matches what they need — a venue that mirrors World Cup race conditions without leaving the country.

Why Darcy Coutts is the perfect builder

If you're going to build a modern DH track in Australia, you call Darcy Coutts. His resume is genuinely stupid:

  • Red Bull Hardline Maydena — the new course for the gnarliest DH event on the planet
  • Burramys at Falls Creek — the new UCI-spec DH track that's already become one of Australia's best
  • Plus a long list of trail-build projects across Tasmania and the mainland

This is the guy who knows how to read a hillside, work with the existing terrain, and pull race-ready tracks out of dirt and rock without making them feel sanitised. The early shots of the Thredbo build show exactly what you'd expect — natural lines, big rocks worked into the track, properly built berms, sketchy fall-line sections. It's going to be a proper test.

The terrain is genuinely different

The new track lives on the opposite side of the resort to Cannonball, accessed via the Merrits Gondola. The dirt over there is dark and dense — closer to loam than the dustier conditions on the Cannonball side. There are bigger embedded rocks for the builders to work with, which means more technical features and more grip when it gets greasy.

The first half zigzags underneath the lift towers — meaning you'll be able to watch riders coming down the whole top section from the gondola on your way up. That's prime spectator territory and a huge plus for race weekends.

What this means for the future

A few things are about to change:

  1. International race teams will come back to Cannonball. A modern UCI-spec track with a three-minute race time is exactly what World Cup-bound teams need for pre-season testing. Expect to see the Atherton Racing setup, the Commencal teams, and a swag of Euros at Cannonball 2027.
  2. The next generation of Aussie DH racers gets a proper progression track. Riders like Tilly Boadle growing up with a UCI-spec local track will arrive at international racing already used to that race format and time pressure.
  3. Thredbo cements its position as a year-round DH destination. Lifts running 365 days a year + Cannonball DH + the new modern track + the existing flow trails = a complete bike park experience that genuinely competes with anything in Europe.
  4. The bid for a World Cup gets serious. Windshuttle says hosting a World Cup isn't the immediate goal, but you don't build a UCI-spec track without quietly opening that door.

When can you ride it

The track is targeted to be ready for Cannonball MTB Festival 2027 — that's December 2026 / January 2027 depending on when the festival lands on the calendar. Expect a soft opening for season pass holders ahead of the festival, with the official race debut at Cannonball itself.

That gives you the rest of this 2025/26 summer to get ride-ready, hit Thredbo to nail the existing trails, and be there from day one when the new track drops.

What you'll need to ride it

This is a proper DH track. Not a trail bike track with a brave label. The wishlist:

  • A DH bike or a long-travel enduro bike — 170mm+ of travel front and rear, slack head angle, big chunky tyres
  • Proper grip on the contact points — sweaty hands and loose feet end runs early on a track this fast
  • Fresh brake pads — dark loamy soil at speed means hot rotors and serious heat fade if you're not on top of pad replacement

If you're getting your kit sorted ahead of a Thredbo trip:

The bigger picture

This is the third major Aussie DH infrastructure project to drop in the last 18 months — Maydena Hardline, Falls Creek Burramys, now Thredbo. The investment in Australian downhill is unprecedented, and the next 5 years of racing here are going to be wild.

If you've been waiting to get into DH, the timing has never been better. The tracks are world-class, the lifts are running, and the local race scene is healthier than it's been in decades.

Pack your race bike. Book your Thredbo trip. Cannonball 2027 is going to be one for the history books.

Already locking in your Cannonball 2027 trip? Want gear advice for big-bike riding at Thredbo? Drop us a line.

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