The Chocolate Wrapper - Event Report, SRAM Singletrack Mind Series Round 8¼
Dear Singletrackers
It was the race that no one thought would happen, after being originally scheduled for April then rescheduled for November. Both dates had to be canned after near biblical weather events. But third time proved to be a charm as the Hunter region put on perfect weather last weekend for the final round of the SRAM Singletrack Mind Series. Hunter MTB Association’s purpose designed trails and venue of Awaba Mountain Bike Park ensured that the 8¼ hour series finale would be an event to remember with over 11km of flowing trail, of which almost all was swooping singletrack. Many of you have hailed it as the best venue of the Series! We’re just relieved we were able to FINALLY take you there ;-)
Congratulations to all the category winners and place getters for their incredible efforts, and who walked away with over $12,000 in cash and prizes from our fantastic sponsors SRAM, Avid, RockShox, Truvativ, Leyzne, Merida, NZO, Hammer Nutrition, Jimmy Jack wine, Aussie Butt Cream, Kenda, Mountain Biking Australia magazine and Muc-Off! Congratulations also to Andrew Hall who not only walked away with the overall Series win, but also a $1500 voucher from Merida. And it was great to see one of our other regulars, Emmanuelle Hutchins, score the draw prize of a $1200 RockShox SID XX fork!
Congratulations also to our Series winners, your podium spots were hard-earned and it’s been great to see such consistent competition throughout the Series. Thank you for supporting the Series! And thanks to the crowd for your patience during the two Presentation ceremonies, perhaps the choccy feet helped your endurance?
And last but by no means least, a big thanks goes out to our awesome event sponsors who were there on the day: Castech Sports Technology for their fantastic timing service with massive scoreboard, results café, and live to the web results. SRAM and City Bike Depot provided awesome tech support, and a shiny fleet of Merida demo bikes. The Body Mechanic, Blair Martin, looked after your aches and pains and bike setup questions, and the crew from Jimmy Jack offered tastings of their fine wines while their head honcho Graeme Scott had a great time racing in the Solo Masters category securing himself third place overall in the hotly-contested Clydesdale category.
Results, Photos & Reports
Preliminary results and updated Series Points are up on the website. Please take a look and let us know if anything is incorrect!
Lensman extraordinaire Dave Bateman has once again provided us with some fantastic shots – check them out in the Gallery – and there you’ll also find separate folders with pics from the race and Series presentations. There’s also a heap of great shots from Mike Israel who, although currently sidelined from racing due to injury, came out to cheer on his team mates and snapped away madly all day!
We’ve posted a couple of event reports on the website and also a summary of comments received from competitors, supporters and event services – thanks to all that have sent kind words, we in turn would like to thank all of you for the great vibe on and off track.
Look out for the SRAM Singletrack Mind Series featuring on SBS’s Cycling Central programme on New Year’s Day at 5.00pm!
Event Crew
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who assisted in the successful running of the event:
- Hunter MTB Association – Tim Butler, Dean Kozlik and the rest of the HMBA crew who devoted so much time to making the day a success.
- Course Marshals – thanks to all our fantastic HMBA volunteer marshals (Alex, Regan, Tim, Rick, Andrew, Brett, Michael, Glen, Sarah), plus Roger and Russ from our own vollie crew, who were looking out for you on the track
- Riders – As always, we’ve received great feedback on the fun vibe and politeness of other riders, we’re totally stoked that you guys are doing your best to obey Rule # 31! We also heard plenty of tales of Good Samaritans, and we thank you for putting aside your race to assist a fellow rider.
- Simona & Peter – for the great catering throughout the weekend, how good was it to have dinner available at Awaba on Saturday evening?
- Steve from Espresso Mobile – for keeping us all caffeinated
- Dave Bateman – our Series photographer who always delivers outstanding shots.
- Volunteers – We couldn't have done this without our wonderful volunteers! Special shout out goes to Josh, Stew, Kelly, Dave, Lachie, Roger, Russ, Tyno, Josh, Aiden and Steve who helped us on the weekend – you’re all awesome!
Transponder return
Did you find an orange timing chip attached to your fork leg when you got home? Oops! If you did, please pop it in a tuff bag or wrapped in bubble wrap and post to:
Castech Sports Technology
PO Box 219
Wahroonga NSW 2076
Lost and Found
We can't help you find your lost fitness or "mad bike skillz" but if you lost some gear at the race we might just have it here. We’ve got a few bits and pieces including a helmet, and several pumps. Get in touch if you think you’re missing something.
Hammer Nutrition Special Offer
As a competitor in the SRAM Singletrack Mind Series, you are entitled to a 15% discount off Hammer Nutrition’s fine products! Purchase the products online then proceed to the checkout cart. Insert the code CHOC FOOT into the coupon section, check out, and your discount will be applied.
Putting our best foot forward …
We’ll be sending out a Series Wrap report in the near future where we’ll also announce next year’s venues. The dates are currently set as 29 April, 24 June, 19 August, 16 September, 28 October and 25 November. We’ll also be running the Rock Wallaby at Appin on 27 May, and with the introduction of a full marathon distance option this event is gonna ROCK!
Our social Chocolate Rides in Sydney’s Northern Beaches have been hugely successful with two girls only rides so far (each attracting 13 riders) and a mixed ride. There’ll be many more to come in 2012 and the info will be posted here when available, and you can also join the Facebook group to keep up to date.
That's it for the Chocolate Wrapper, our event wrap-up, and we look forward to seeing you in 2012!
Cheers
Joe & Fi
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