Josh Arcus

Excerpt from The Weekly Times, Wednesday 25 Sep 2019

Have bike will travel—that is the motto of Ryde teenager Josh Arcus who has stamped his mark on the international Mountain Biking circuit.

The Riverview student forced his way onto the Australian team for the recent World Championships of Downhill Mountain Biking at Mont Sainte Ann in Quebec after superb performances at domestic level over the past two years.

Hampered by a back injury, Josh completed the 2.9 km championship trek in a time of 4 minutes 34 seconds to finish in 36th place—some 27 seconds behind the winner.

During his three week campaign, Josh competed at Whistler where he finished fourth in the Juniors Category of the Garbanzo Downhill—a 13 minute race averaging 40 km per hour—as well as a fourth placing in the Dual Slalom and 8th in the Canadian Open.

While gearing up for the Air DH, he came off his bike at speed and damaged his back which left him in doubt for the World Titles.

Arriving in Quebec, Josh connected wit the junior and senior members of the Australian team and spent the week gaining an understanding of what it takes to become a professional.

He sat 35th after braving wet and windy qualification conditions and despite a solid performance in his final run he finished 36th.

Josh commenced his Mountain Biking journey as a 12 year old and despite being hospitalised twice riding his bike has carved out an impressive list of achievements that include winning State titles and Australian Schools Championships.

The young gun has earned the tag of Australian MTB Interschools King of the Mountain these past two years and currently leads the NSW DH State series after finishing first overall in 2018.

Josh was runner up in last year’s Australian Open DH Cannonball MTB Festival and finished first in Downhill at the 2019 Australian MTB Interschools and first overall at the Australian National Downhill.

He also came fourth at this year’s Oceania Downhill Championships.