The Chocolate Wrapper - Event Report, Round 4
Dear Singletrack Minds
We still can't believe it was short sleeve jersey weather in Canberra in August! After the deluge and Antarctic conditions of the previous week, Stromlo was unsurprisingly a little soggy in parts but the clouds parted, the wind lost its puff and it was all rather pleasant!
A strong field with over 360 riders entered from all over NSW and the ACT lined up for the 8am start and you could have been forgiven for thinking that it was a National XC event with names like Gordon, Rowney, Carlson and Morton on the front row of the start grid. It was Carlson with the holeshot but Brad Morton who was first through transition at the end of lap 1. Seven hours later it was Craig Gordon's Rockstar team taking the honours in the Mens Pairs from Yeti/Gu's Paul Rowney and Matt Potter with the locals Brad Morton and Michael Brice of OnYaBike in 3rd.
Having won the previous three rounds of the series in the mixed pairs, the MicNic team came under attack from Paul Morgan and Rebecca Mates of Batemens Bay cycles and eventual winners Anthony Shippard and Jenny Fay from Clarence St cyclery. The Hogans of MicNic look likely to hold on to their series lead but will be no doubt putting in the miles before round five to cement the overall win.
The solo categories were huge for this round partly because the World Solo 24 Hour championship is coming to Stromlo in just over a month. While Craig Gordon was content to work on his speed and intensity, pairing up with Troy Glennan, there were over 130 soloists giving it a solid 7 hours at race pace, shaking out their rigs and seeing how the legs would fare on the shorter distance. Jon Odams lead the solo men from start to finish with Benjamin Hallowell and Brett Bellchambers on the singlespeed rounding out the podium. Odams also scored the hat-trick, winning 3 rounds of the series in a row and off the back of that he has decided to tear it up at the WSC24! Trudy Nicholas put in some very impressive lap times in the opening laps to build a near unassailable lead and held it to the end. Katrin Van Der Spiegel came in second, the same position as her previous appearance at the WSC24, with Rebecca Parkes, another WSC24 contender, in 3rd.
There were epic battles all day in almost every category including the Junior 4's. The WSMTB Bush Rats worked hard all day, starting in 1st then back to 3rd and back into 1st after a flat tyre at the top of The Luge dashed the hopes of the Nowra pinners in Shack Attack!
We'd like to thank all our fantastic sponsors SRAM, Brave Soldier Avid, RockShox, Truvativ, Leyzne, NZO clothing, Hammer Nutrition, Cannondale, K-Lite Racing, Kenda, Deuter, Mountain Biking Australia, The Body Mechanic and Muc-Off for providing our winners and place getters with over $10,000 worth of cash and high quality schwag!
Throughout the day we also gave away loads of SRAM water bottles, Cannondale DVD's, Kenda tyres and K-Lite T-shirts but as the sun started descending over the peak of Mt Stromlo we had the pleasure of giving away the big-time bling! Hector Vivas walked away the new owner of a very tasty RockShox SID team fork with push-lok! While Malcolm Bennett got a huge novelty cheque, which would be cool in itself, but it also entitles him to $1500 to spend on the Cannondale bike of his choice! Schweet!
Results, Photos & Reports
Full results can be found here! Also check back there in the next few days as we update the series points and the MTB clubs pointscore.
The contrast of fast, firm and tacky downhill sections versus patches of slimy mud caught a few riders out keeping the lovely volunteers at St John Ambulance occupied most of the day but nothing too serious was reported. The editor of the Enduro Pulse website Craig Baylis probably had the biggest off for the day and told us last night that after getting x-rays he's got a fractured ankle and thumb! But from bed he's uploaded some great pix and a brief report here. Thanks Craig and best wishes for a speedy recovery and return to the bike!
The Singletrack Mind series thread on the Rotorburn forum has been running hot and has now been viewed over 13,000 times, crikey!
Byron Hillis was busy racing most of the day but snapped off a few photos here.
Jason Heddle wasn't able to race but his endurance on the camera World Champs standard! He's banged off hundreds of photos and posted them to Facebook. Find Chocolate Foot's FB page here and you'll find the links to Jason's pix. Click the "like" button if you'd like to keep up to date with the series, our skills clinics and all things Choccy Foot!
Series photographer Dave Bateman was also super busy all day and even assisted a few riders that fell victim to the rock garden at the end of The Luge! He's currently tweaking and editing thousands of pix and will have them uploaded to the gallery as soon as possible.
Of course we'll also have more video uploaded soon, check the Singletrack Mind Youtube Channel for all the latest!
Event Crew
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who came to or assisted in the successful running of the event:
- Riders – The vibe was awesome, we were blown away by the amount of good samaritan stories we received and despite there not being an abundance of overtaking opportunities everyone kept cool and as is our policy, the event was a dickhead-free-zone! These events are nothing without the cool people who come and create that great vibe, thanks to every single one of you!
- CORC – We love partnering with clubs, their support and knowledge is invaluable and we really appreciate that the members get right behind the events!
- Volunteers – We had a brilliant band of vollies for this round, nothing was too hard including standing in ankle deep mud laying duckboards. Thanks guys and gals you are all tops!
- St John Ambulance - The volunteers of the St John Ambulance give up their weekends so that you can have a safe and enjoyable time. Thanks for your tireless work and enthusiasm!
- Mechanical Support – A huge thanks to SRAM tech support and Lifecycles for keeping everyone’s bike purring all day.
- Castech Timing – for their state of the art, live to the web timing service. Don't forget to bookmark and send this link to your Mum before you come to the next round so she can track your progress: www.onlineresults.com.au You can also log on to their service at the event from the comfort of your tent with your internet or wi-fi enabled device.
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
Series jersey now available – but not for much longer!
Just a reminder that orders for the Singletrack Mind Series jersey close tonight. Designed by the stylemasters at Nzo you can be assured that it is super functional and super funky. Naturally it's available in wide range of sizes and at 85 bucks it's very reasonably priced for such a quality piece of kit! Check it out below and click here for the sizing chart. You can order on-line here until midnight tonight if you would like have them to pick up at round 5, or we can post it to you. You can also order and enter Round 5 in one easy transaction here!
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. If you were the person who left behind a shopping bag full of stuff we have it! We know it was nice weather out there but you might want your warm gear back sometime and in any case that nice 2XU vest doesn't fit us so it's all yours!
Can't wait until September 25 for your next enduro fix?
The Kempsey Macleay club is running the Phat Wallaby 3/6 Hour on their new and reportedly excellent trails at Kempsey Golf Club on 11 September. Entry and details here.
The South Coast United Mountain Bikers (SCUM) have their Coolendel Weekend coming up on 18/19 September. We went to it last year and it's great fun. Check it out here!
Putting our best foot forward …
Singletrack Mind Series Round 5 on Saturday 25 September at Appin XC track and the Series Grand Finale! This round will be a little different to the rest as it's a day/night format over 8 hours. We'll be kicking off at midday (on Saturday this time) and finishing in the dark at 8pm. We'll have the round and series presentations around 9pm then it's party time!
If you need lights or you couldn't convince your team mates to do all the night laps have a look at the K-Lite website for the their state of the art, super bright, super lightweight systems. They're very well priced and built right here in Australia!
We'll also be giving away a K-Lite system! To qualify for the random draw you'll need to enter round 5 before Sunday 12 September 2010. We'll draw the prize on Monday 13 September 2010 so you still have two weeks to sort out some lights if you don't win!
That's it for this Chocolate Wrapper and again we'd like to thank everyone for contributing to the success and great vibe of the weekend’s event.
Joe & Fi
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