About us

Before World Trail was formed, our founder, Glen Jacobs, was already leaving his mark on the mountain biking world. As the globe’s first professional race track designer contracted to the UCI, Glen’s groundbreaking work began in the mid-90s, stemming from his involvement in Cairns. His designs shaped the evolution of dual slalom into 4-cross, transforming the competition from a duel between two riders to an adrenaline-pumping race amongst four. His expertise extended beyond trail design to developing World Cup downhill and cross-country tracks, and even scouting ideal locations for these world-class events.

Glen’s influence spanned continents, lending his skills and vision to projects across Europe, Japan, South Africa, Norway, Slovenia, Canada, Australia, and the USA. His unique perspectives were also captured on film in his wildly successful video series, “Mud Cows.”

Enter Dylan Jeffries. Introduced to Glen around 2002 through a mutual friend, Dylan’s love for filming and a keen business acumen were quickly apparent. Their collaboration saw them sift through mountains of “Mud Cows” footage, reworking it into hilarious submissions for the TV series “Australia’s Funniest Home Videos,” and securing some impressive wins in the process. This partnership eventually led to the creation of “The Chosen Line,” a TV series that followed their bus-fueled adventures across Australia, riding with the country’s top mountain bikers and capturing their exploits on film.

It was during the filming of “The Chosen Line” that World Trail’s first incarnation took root. Called upon to design and build a four-cross track in Armidale, Glen’s creative genius and Dylan’s business administration prowess paved the way for a successful partnership. Their next endeavour was creating a mountain biking destination in Forrest, Victoria, where they worked closely with Gerard McHugh, who would later join the team as the company’s first employee and now Australia’s most experienced trail planner.

The team expanded with the addition of gun rider and excavator guru Rhys Atkinson, and as the crew grew, so did the company’s ambitions. Next on the scene was a young Max Connor, who quickly climbed the ranks and displayed a unique flair with his trail shapes and creativity. As the industry grew and matured, we quickly identified a need to diversify into urban spaces where we envisaged the boom in asphalt pumps and urban bike parks. Enter Daniel Snelgrove, Civil Engineer, into the company, where he would singlehandedly shape this space, setting new standards with his unique skill set and attention to detail.

Originally known as “Mud Cow Visions,” the company later adopted the name World Trail, embodying our aspiration to influence the global mountain biking scene. With a track record of over 500 projects in more than 20 countries, the World Trail brand has emerged as a standard in the industry.