48 Local Sport Thursday, July 23, 2026
Tweed Valley Weekly Locals Supporting Locals
Dane flying high in the Netherlands
By Jo Kennett
RISING MURWILLUMBAH mountain bike star and Red Bull Rookie of the Year Dane Folpp will compete in the Red Bull District Ride in the Netherlands this weekend against the world’s best slopestyle mountain
bikers. Dane had been having a bit of trouble practising before he left, as it had hardly stopped raining in the Tweed, but managed to get a few indoor sessions in to prepare for the event. As part of his prize for winning the Red Bull Rookie of the Year, Dane
secured a wildcard entry to compete in the first 2026 Diamond World Tour stop with the world’s top 12 riders in March in Rotorua, New Zealand. Dane put his competitors on notice, finishing sixth in the Diamond-level event, which was the headline finale of the 2026 Crankworx Rotorua festival and the second stop of the newly formed Slopestyle Super League. In May, Dane travelled to Slovakia to compete in the Gold Slopestyle event at BikeFest Kálnica, part of the Slopestyle Super League and FMB World Tour. Once again, Dane competed against the best in the world, with 15 male athletes advancing to the finals after two fiercely contested qualification rounds. Dane placed fifth in the finals, which his mother Tanya described as “an incredible result.” Dane is currently ranked seventh in the Open Men’s Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour. Dane has now arrived in the Netherlands to compete at the Red Bull
District Ride on July 24-25. “This is a prestigious competition held once every four years,” Dane’s mother Tanya told The Weekly. “Red Bull District Ride transforms the city centre of Groningen in the Netherlands into a custom-built urban course where buildings, town squares, streets and urban spaces feature massive jumps, ramps and gaps for riders to showcase their technical tricks, amplitude, creativity and style in front of thousands of spectators. “The riders will be judged in three different districts and scored on execution, difficulty, style, creativity and overall flow. “The event will be broadcast live on YouTube via Red Bull TV and at www.redbull.com/au-en/events/ red-bull-district-ride/red-bull-districtride-format. “After the Netherlands, Dane will travel to Whistler, Canada, for his next Diamond event, Rhapsody Slopestyle, on August 2. You can find details and watch Dane compete at www.crankworx.com/whistler/events/
slopestyle. “He will then compete at the Crankworx SilverStar Slopestyle FMB Gold event in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, on August 9. “We are beyond excited for Dane and would love the Tweed community to follow his journey and wish him well,” Tanya said. “As you know, the weather has been challenging for Dane to practise at his compound at home because of so much mud and slosh. However, his training has involved daily trips to Ipswich and Brisbane to ride at Ramp Attack and The Village, two indoor skate parks that have been a godsend during this wet weather.” When he’s not competing, the 19-year-old works at Northern Rivers Cycles and Bike Hire Shop in Mooball, where his biggest supporters, apart from his family, post regular updates on Dane’s progress on social media. Watch this weekend’s event live on YouTube via Red Bull TV.
Lachy’s breakthrough surfing win By Jo Kennett
KINGSCLIFF SURFER Lachlan Arghyros has won the World Surf League (WSL) Traeger Grills Pro Junior, his first Pro Junior victory, with a buzzer-beating air at Lennox Head’s Seven Mile Beach on Sunday, July 12. The week-long event was run under varying conditions, wrapping up in clean two-to-three foot surf. Held as a part of the 15th annual Soundboks Oz Grom Open, which also features a Surfing Australia Junior Series competition, the event attracted the best surfers 20-and-under from across the Australia / Oceania region. Lachy turned around a slow start to his season in a big way, claiming his first WSL victory and climbing into the top 10 on the Australia/Oceania Junior Tour rankings, putting him in line for a spot at the WSL World Junior Championships in the Philip-
pines next year. Previously only making it out of his opening heat in his very first Pro Junior in 2023, the 16-year-old made it all the way to the top after taking out Sol Gruendling (AUS) in the Quarterfinals, along with two former event runners-up, Mitchell Peterson (AUS) in the Semifinals and Rico Haybittle (NZL) in the Final. It was a nail-biting finish. Trailing with a two-wave total of 9.84 to Rico Haybittle’s 9.93, Lachy needed a 4.77 in the final minute when he landed a buzzer-beating backhand reverse. Lachy had built a soft lead early before Rico opened with the highest number of the Final, a 6.83, thanks to a solid two-turn backhand combo. Eventually backing it up with the same combo, Rico took the lead in the last five minutes, before Lachy delivered the final punch, joining the prestigious list of previous event winners, including 2024 winner and
reigning world champ Dane Henry. “Wow, I didn’t even know what to say,” Arghyros said afterwards. “Right before my heat I was talking to Davi [Glazer] about trying to do a punt, and my other heats I tried and just got nowhere near. I waited with priority, did the first snap and it didn’t click as well as I thought it would, so I was like, I’m going to have to go big here to get a 4.70, and then stuck that punt I was trying to do the whole time. “It was just kind of meant to be. “Last year I was watching Dane Henry, and I wasn’t really expecting much this year either. I think that’s what brought me to the win, just surfing and not putting pressure on myself, and sometimes that’s the best thing that can happen.” Later Lachy posted to Instagram that it felt “like a breakthrough moment for me and makes me realise that hard work really does pay off
Lachy in the finals Photo Aaron Hughes
eventually and if you keep working harder and harder with your wins, the sky is the limit.” “I feel like I haven’t done anywhere near my best surfing in a rashie yet, and to know that I won a comp surf-
ing how I did makes me fired up to show more and more of it through the rest of the year,” Lachy said. “Got bigger things in mind for this year and this is a good step in the right direction.”
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