Russ Baker

Since moving to the ACT in the early 1990’s and participating in his first Mountain Bike race in 1999, Russell ‘Russ’ Baker has become one of the driving forces in the evolution of mountain biking in the ACT and Australia. His first achievement was to write timing software that CORC could use for its 24 hour races, this software became the accepted standard for many clubs around the country until very recently. After his first involvement, Russ went on to hold various voluntary roles with CORC, including being the driving force for the re-establishment of mountain biking at Mt Stromlo, which is now known as Stromlo Forest Park. Russ was also a driving force behind Stromlo Forest Park being the host for the 2007-2009 Australian Mountain Biking Championships, 2008 Mountain Biking World Cup and 2009 Mountain Biking World Championship. Russ also established other key events such as the Solo-Only 24 Hour Mountain Bike Championships and the ACT Schools Mountain Bike Championships, the latter is a stalwart of the ACT Mountain Biking calendar to this day; the 2016 event attracted close to 700 school ages competitors from the ACT and southern NSW. During this time Russ also worked to include other regional clubs and help them set up events, most of which are still being run today. In 2009 Russ was elected President of Mountain Biking Australia, a position he holds to this day where he has fostered greater inclusion of all groups in the sport and has driven mountain biking to be a clean and drug-free, inclusive and accessible equally to males and females.