2026 COURSE INFORMATION

Get the low down on both the long and short course.
Choose your event wisely and help prevent a pointless sacrifice to the gravel gods.

Both courses and age groups start in Derby and finish in Branxholm.
Junior courses to be confirmed closer to race day.

COURSE MAPS

Final Confirmation of the 2026 Course will be made closer to the Event. It is unlikely that they will be changed from the routes below.
Please expand this map for further detail.

LONG COURSE DETAILS

The UCI Gravel World Series Qualifying
distance for all age groups.

106km - 2300M ELEVATION

Don’t let these statistics drop your guard, 2300m elevation is some serious gain and combine that with the potential weather elements, The Devils Cardigan is no picnic. There are 3 major climbs on route, Mutual Valley Climb, Ralph Falls and the final one leading us onto Mt Albert road. We recommend that you carefully consider your course length with our time cut offs, and be sure not to make a meaningless sacrifice to the gravel gods.

  • 13% bitumen over 4 short sections

  • 67% Grade 1, 2 to 3 Gravel with a slight bias towards more Grade 3

  • 18% Grade 4 Gravel

  • 2% Grade 5 Gravel

    A guide to the Velo Gravel Grading we use can be found in our Survival page and at the original article HERE.

*NOTE - Junior Category courses to be confirmed -

3 x “RELAXED” CLIMBS

1 - MUTUAL VALLEY

Straight from the gun, its up the Mutual! 8.3km with an average of 4.2%, you won’t be cold for long.

2 - RALPH FALLS

This segment is 10.5km long, gains 600m and has an average gradient of 5%. The max gradient is a joyful 16%

3 -THE UN-NAMED CLIMB OF HELL

This segment is 3.5km long, gains 280m and has an average gradient of 8%. This average contains a small descent early in the climb, with the majority of the climb averaging over 9%. The max gradient is about 15%.

SHORT COURSE DETAIL

( Not the Qualifing distance for the UCI Gravel World Championship)

54km - 1200M ELEVATION

A more practical course for the sensible folk and social types, but still packs plenty of adventure.

  • 40% bitumen over 4 short sections

  • 30% Grade 2 to 3 Gravel with a bias towards more Grade 2

  • 25% Grade 4 Gravel

  • 5% Grade 5 Gravel

1 x “RELAXED” CLIMB

MUTUAL VALLEY

Straight from the gun, its up the Mutual! 8.3km with an average of 4.2%, you won’t be cold for long.