Singletrack Mind Series
... for anyone obsessed with singletrack
The Chocolate Wrapper - 2012 SRAM Singletrack Mind Series Round 3 Event ReportDear Singletrackers We have a big soft spot for Nowra, Joe's hometown and home to plenty of sweet flowing singletrack! Good ol' Nowra didn't disappoint for the 3rd year in a row and the updated layout of the Coodoo Road course got the thumbs up from pretty much everyone! It was also another big round with over 300 riders and all the contenders for the Series honours were in attendance making for a really stacked field!
We'd like to thank four people especially and oddly enough they all wear green! Big props to the three first aiders of the Nowra division of St John Ambulance who, while they didn't have any major injuries to attend to, tirelessly patched up grazes and cuts, while our favourite plasticine friend Gumby was keeping the good vibes flowing, giving high fives to riders and scaring a few kids too! Gumby told us he's going to talk to his best friend Pokey about coming to the next race! Quite apart from the excellent standard of racing and super tight battles in many of the categories we have loads of cool stories come out of this round and even before the race. Al Usher wouldn't be content with racking up 125km during the race as he rode 200km from Canberra to the event while enduring sleet and a freezing night out under the stars. You'd think that might be enough for one weekend but no, he waved goodbye to his mates at the race and, this time with Solo Women competitor Bethany Thompson, rode back. The journey didn't go entirely to plan and Bethany wrote a great account of the trip – well worth a read! Round 3 featured the best female participation rate that we've ever had in the Series with 19%! We also had two other firsts for the Series as Philippa Rostan signed up to become our first female Clydesdale competitor! For being such a great sport she walked away with a nice prize from Hammer Nutrition! While they didn't make the podium, we couldn't help but give an encouragement prize to our first all-girl juniors team! The quartet from Vincentia High School are part of the school's very cool MTB program that will be heading to Canberra soon for the Schools Champs. Congratulations to all the category winners and place getters for their incredible efforts, walking away with over $12,000 in cash and prizes from our fantastic sponsors SRAM, Avid, RockShox, Truvativ, Serfas, Giant, Cycology, Hammer Nutrition, Jimmy Jack wine, Aussie Butt Cream, Kenda, Frameskin, Mountain Biking Australia magazine and Muc-Off! Congratulations also to Harrison Wiles who walked away with a $1500 voucher from Giant, and to Amy Fletcher who went home with the SRAM RISE 40 wheelset worth $750. Results, Photos & ReportsPreliminary results, including Female & Male 20 fastest laps, are up on the website. Please take a look and let us know if anything is incorrect! Series Points will be updated in the next few days. Event photographer and lensman extraordinaire Dave Bateman took some fantastic shots – check them out in the Gallery. The full race report has been published on SBS Cycling Central here. We’ve also posted several competitors’ event reports which are a great read – check them out here! There’s also a summary of comments received from competitors, supporters, and sponsors – we really appreciate receiving your feedback, and in turn thank you all for the great vibe at the event! Thank YouWe'd like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who assisted in the successful running of the event:
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The event also featured a great line up of sponsor displays and services with SRAM, Giant, Hammer Nutrition, Zerofive Custom Sportswear, Mountain Biking Australia magazine, Muc-Off, Jimmy Jack Wines and Cycology showing their fine wares or fixing bikes – we are stoked to have such awesome support at the events.