This year’s 25th anniversary edition will see riders tackle one of three routes: two dams (54km), three dams (132km) or five dams (204km).
WestCycle chief executive officer Wayne Bradshaw said after the COVID hiccup it’s great to be back in the Perth Hills this year.
“The stunning course through the Perth Hills plus the kudos that come from riding to all these dams in one day have put this event on the Australian and international map,’’ he said.
“The shorter two and three dam versions still offer something for riders with different aims and fitness levels.”
Those choosing the brutal suffer-fest that is the five dams iteration will climb more than 2500m in vertical gain with pitches up to 13 per cent.
This year a legends category has been introduced to acknowledge those riders who have completed the five dams, five times.
Only a handful of mountain goats can to date claim legend status and don the commemorative jersey.
Riders will pass by or over Serpentine, Wungong, Churchman’s Brook, Bickley and Canning dams.
The Dams Challenge was conceived on a whim by Fremantle-based cycling legend Lindsay O’Brien who one day in 1998 decided to see how many Perth dams he could ride to – five as it turned out.
O’Brien’s challenge quickly spread organically among the Perth cycling community to evolve into today’s iconic challenge that more than 1000 riders relish each year.
The event has come a long way since 1998 when Ian Pawley was among a select crew of about 10 riders who, inspired by O’Brien’s solo feat, departed from Canning Bridge on a rainy June morning to visit five dams.
The rain-lashed Royal South Beach Cycling Association riders returned to Fremantle some eight and a half hours later with 227km in their legs and five dams in the bag.
Pawley has ridden famous European one-day monument fondos like the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix (with a broken wrist!), Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Milan-San Remo and Australian events like Around the Bay in a Day and the Three Peaks Challenge.
He puts five dams in that leg-sapping, mind-steeling echelon.
