The 2024 AusCycling Esports National Championship live final will take place in March at the Brisbane Cycling Festival
Australia’s first Cycling Esports National Championship will be on March 22, 2024, with two qualifying rounds earlier in the month. The live event final at The Cube on the Queensland University of Technology Gardens Point campus is in conjunction with the Brisbane Cycling Festival.
“It will be very exciting to award an Australian champion’s jersey in cycling esports for the first time,” says Executive General Manager of Sport a AusCycling Kipp Kaufmann.
Competitors will race for the iconic green-and-gold jersey of Australian champion, which will be awarded both physically and digitally to the winners.
AusCycling awarded Vicki Whitelaw and Jesse Riley the first real-world green-and-gold jerseys and medals for esports events in 2019 after winning the sanctioned eRacing National Criterium Championships.
Australian Jay Vine won the 2022 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship. Seven Great Britain’s Esports squad members competed for the Rainbow Stripes in the first live UCI Cycling Esports World Championships final in Glasgow in 2023.
“After years of hosting national esports events and fielding successful teams at world championships, this is the next step forward for AusCycling in this growing discipline,” explains Kaufmann.
The virtual cycling platform Zwift will host the event in an omnium-style multi-round event similar to the 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, and SBS will be broadcasting live.
Two qualifying rounds will decide eight male and female finalists competing in person in Brisbane, with AusCycling wildcard selections to fill the remaining slots.
| Event | Date | Time | Course | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying Round 1 | Sunday, March 3, 2024 | 8:00PM AEDT | Makuri 40, Zwift | Top 4 qualify for final |
| Qualifying Round 2 | Monday, March 11, 2024 | 8:00PM AEDT | Makuri 40, Zwift | Top 4 qualify for final |
| Final | Friday, March 22, 2024 | 5:00PM AEST | Three-stage omnium-style |
“The in-person format has three major advantages. One, it improves the integrity of the race and fairness for the competitors. Two, it enables us to provide a higher-quality broadcast. Three, we can invite a crowd to generate an atmosphere that will energize the riders and entertain fans,” says Kaufmann.
For details, visit the AusCycling Esports National Championships webpage.
Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
