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HUNTERS are the Hunter Valley’s newest multi-discipline cycling team.
In 2025 there’ll be five Gravel Hunters and one Enduro Hunter.
Rider: TANYA CLARK
Bike: Focus Raven ‘Keeganstein’
Events: HMBA Club rounds, NSW XC State Rounds, Gravel Worlds Qualifiers
Tanya’s palmares is a long list of Masters Women’s victories in XC and XCO across the country and internationally. With multiple State Championship titles and National Championships, Tanya’s next goal is to qualify for the Gravel Worlds in ’26 and lead the team on the world stage.
Rider: NICK GOODCHILD
Bike: Focus Raven ‘Keeganstein’
Events: HMBA Club rounds, NSW XC State Rounds, NSW/VIC Gravel events
Nick’s passion for cycling took him to a silver medal in NSW State XCO in ’24 in the Mens Masters class. He’ll be backing up for another shot at the title this year, plus plenty of gravel riding with an eye on the ’26 Gravel Worlds.
Rider: DANNY HANLY
Bike: Focus Raven ‘Keeganstein’
Events: NSW/VIC Gravel events
Riding 8,000kms this year is Danny’s goal and along the way he’ll be found at the toughest gravel events on the calendar.
With previous success at the Wollombi Wild Ride and Westpac Ride 4 Rescue, Danny was one of the few finishers at 2024’s brutal Thunderbolt’s Adventure.
Danny has a reputation for speed and endurance plus the determination to finish that makes a great racer.
Danny’s favourite place to ride is our local Werakata National Park where he’ll be training hard throughout the winter.
Rider: TBC – but we know who it will be!
Bike: Focus Raven ‘Keeganstein’
Events: NSW/VIC Gravel, Gravel Worlds Qualifiers
TBC is a Wollombi gravel legend and rides over 15,000kms/year. He has a long history of road racing but now travels the gravel roads of Wollombi and Laguna searching for big hills.
TBC splits his time between the Hunter and his holiday home in Sydney and his two-year plan is to take the prize in the Masters 7 class at the ’26 UCI Gravel Worlds.
Rider: SHANE MATTISKE
Bike: Focus Raven ‘Keeganstein’
Events: NSW/VIC Gravel, Club Road, Gravel Worlds Qualifiers
Shane lives in Sydney & Orange and competes in the Masters 5 category.
His favourite place to ride is the countryside around Orange and he races bikes because it’s a great combination of seeing new places, meeting new people and honing his competitive edge. With recent wins in club Crit racing, Shane’s recent highlight was taking out the inaugural Geoff Scott Retro Trophy at Randwick in ’24.
In ’25 Shane will focus on gravel racing and continue his love for road racing. He’ll be travelling to the key gravel races on the east coast to gain experience in gravel racing and to push his road riding harder.
With favourable winds this should set up a much stronger 2026, where the big goal is UCI Gravel Worlds.
Rider: MICHAEL ROYCROFT
Bike: Focus Sam2 6.0 Race Edition
Events: HMBA Club rounds, NSW Enduro State Rounds
A former junior BMX racer, Michael’s favourite riding playgrounds are Awaba and Ourimbah MTB parks. He lives in Cessnock and rides to keep fit and to hang out with his three sons.
In 2025 Michael will ride in the eBike Mens class and plans to add a ’25 State Championship title to his Club Championship from ’24.
The Focus Raven ‘Keeganstein’
In 20204, Keegan Swenson won the Leadville 100 on Frankenstein bike that took the world by storm. Based on a carbon hardtail MTB with 100mm of fork travel, it had gravel ‘drop bars’ and road shifters.
Our Keeganstein is the same fusion of MTB and gravel bike, particularly suited to gravel racing with technical courses. It’s also highly suited to the riders we have, who mostly come from MTB competition.
Built from the standard platform of a Focus Raven 8.8, we strip the entire bike and replace much of it.
The forks are RockShox SID SL Ultimate Raceday with a 3-position crown lockout. The forks shave nearly 1kg off the weight of the bike and perform magnificently.
The groupset is Shimano GRX 12-speed, with a 10-51 rear cassette. The Shimano crankset is retained but respaced to allow for a 42t front NW chainring. The frame clearance with this large chainring is very small…
The brakes are Shimano SLX 2-piston with 180/160 rotors and work very well in combination with the GRX hydraulic brake shifters.
Some of the team riders have opted for dropper posts which are operated by the LH brake lever. We’ll do testing and some team rides as the riders assess the need for a dropper and the potential weight penalty they bring.