With a beautiful purpose designed venue, spectacular spring weather and a highly competitive field, Round 5 of the SRAM Singletrack Mind Series at The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan was set to be a magic weekend on the bike!
The first venue of its type, The Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan has combined the beauty of a native conservation garden with a specially designed mountain bike trail which is winning acclaim from recreational riders and competitors in last weekend’s SRAM Singletrack Mind Series event. It has become a model for how the goals of recreation and conservation can both be achieved within the same venue and possibly more importantly how this can be achieved by public institutions such as the Botanic Gardens and local Councils.
With Spring barely underway, summer made an early appearance with wonderfully mild conditions at the start but it rapidly warmed up quickly into the low 30's and this would become a decisive factor in the 8-hour long race, with many unused to the heat and the hydration strategy needed. The track, with a newly completed advanced section, was also a test for some and the new features combined with the hot and dusty conditions saw many experienced riders coming in with bumps and scrapes but still smiling from fun and interesting circuit.
A highly credentialed field of over 300 entrants lined up for the start, including two current Australian National Team representatives, while the solo categories featured two former World Champions. Rod McGee is a former UCI World Champion on the boards while in the female solo category Heather Logie lays claim to the title of 2010 Singlepeed World Champion and they would be both racing the hard way on singlespeed bikes. Logie took control of her category early and never looked back … that said, the female solo podium getters all arrived at the event in the same car and are great mates, so it was very friendly rivalry!
The Solo Male category featured two podium getters from the last round, McGee and Andrew Hall. After a solid start, the heat took its toll on the Southern Highlander McGee but Hall powered on to his second win in succession while Martin Strozik had a breakthrough performance to claim his first podium of the series along with Aaron Thompson in third place. The Masters categories were no less intense with Wendy Stevenson's clean sweep of the series continuing unabated, recording her 4th victory. The Maters Male category saw similar domination by Phil Welch who recorded his 2nd win and 4th podium.
The pairs categories were full of action, in the Female Pairs Gaye Camm and Paula Sutton bested their rivals by a lap to record their first win of the Series. The Mixed Pairs saw the return from injury of last year’s Series champions Nicola and Michael Hogan, and after 8 hours of racing they finished up just 28 seconds off the podium, edged out by Ben Cirulis and Alice King. The top spots were a battle between Kath Bicknell/Shane Taylor who recorded second place while ex-pro mountain biker Brent Miller and Linda Cappello teamed up and were simply too strong, finishing a lap ahead to take the category win.
The Male Pairs attracted a quality field including Rockstar Racing's Matthew Fleming and Troy Glennan but they would see stiff competition in the form of Bike Culture/GU, Ashfield Cycles, Stevens Bikes and a team of Australian National team representatives - Daniel McDonald and Kyle Ward. With Fleming taking the holeshot, the Rockstars never looked back and led the race to the finish, but the minor places were a tumultuous battleground. Stevens Bikes started well in 2nd but faded back to 5th place at one stage, climbing to 4th by day’s end. The minor podium positions weren't really finalised until the 6 hour mark of the race, Bike Culture/GU were made to work hard by the young guns McDonald and Ward with only 1 minute separating the teams at the conclusion of 17 laps!
The teams of three categories featured familiar names on the podiums with the Stevens Bikes Three taking the mixed, Team Dickinson winning the female category, and Wallies of Pain standing atop the dais for the Male Threes, and with a big field of 7 teams, the Juniors category was decisively taken out by Team Ramrods.
Competitors were rewarded with over $12,000 in cash and prizes from SRAM, Lezyne, Truvativ, Avid, Muc-Off, Jimmy Jack Wines, Aussie Butt Cream, Kenda Tyres, Hammer Nutrition, Nzo clothing and Mountain Biking Australia magazine. Two very lucky competitors went home with random draw prizes including a $1500 voucher from Merida Bikes and a top of the line RockShox SID XX fork worth $1200.
With two rounds remaining in the Series, the competition for overall honours, much like the weather, is really hotting up! Another all-new venue will host Round 6, the Central Tablelands MTB Club have developed some great trails at Rydal near Lithgow. With the town's showground serving as the event centre (and a pub nearby!) the weekend of October 22/23 is expected to be fun and social off the track while the action on track should be fantastic.
For more info see: http://www.chocolatefoot.com.au/singletrack-mind-series
The first venue of its type, The Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan has combined the beauty of a native conservation garden with a specially designed mountain bike trail which is winning acclaim from recreational riders and competitors in last weekend’s SRAM Singletrack Mind Series event. It has become a model for how the goals of recreation and conservation can both be achieved within the same venue and possibly more importantly how this can be achieved by public institutions such as the Botanic Gardens and local Councils.
With Spring barely underway, summer made an early appearance with wonderfully mild conditions at the start but it rapidly warmed up quickly into the low 30's and this would become a decisive factor in the 8-hour long race, with many unused to the heat and the hydration strategy needed. The track, with a newly completed advanced section, was also a test for some and the new features combined with the hot and dusty conditions saw many experienced riders coming in with bumps and scrapes but still smiling from fun and interesting circuit.
A highly credentialed field of over 300 entrants lined up for the start, including two current Australian National Team representatives, while the solo categories featured two former World Champions. Rod McGee is a former UCI World Champion on the boards while in the female solo category Heather Logie lays claim to the title of 2010 Singlepeed World Champion and they would be both racing the hard way on singlespeed bikes. Logie took control of her category early and never looked back … that said, the female solo podium getters all arrived at the event in the same car and are great mates, so it was very friendly rivalry!
The Solo Male category featured two podium getters from the last round, McGee and Andrew Hall. After a solid start, the heat took its toll on the Southern Highlander McGee but Hall powered on to his second win in succession while Martin Strozik had a breakthrough performance to claim his first podium of the series along with Aaron Thompson in third place. The Masters categories were no less intense with Wendy Stevenson's clean sweep of the series continuing unabated, recording her 4th victory. The Maters Male category saw similar domination by Phil Welch who recorded his 2nd win and 4th podium.
The pairs categories were full of action, in the Female Pairs Gaye Camm and Paula Sutton bested their rivals by a lap to record their first win of the Series. The Mixed Pairs saw the return from injury of last year’s Series champions Nicola and Michael Hogan, and after 8 hours of racing they finished up just 28 seconds off the podium, edged out by Ben Cirulis and Alice King. The top spots were a battle between Kath Bicknell/Shane Taylor who recorded second place while ex-pro mountain biker Brent Miller and Linda Cappello teamed up and were simply too strong, finishing a lap ahead to take the category win.
The Male Pairs attracted a quality field including Rockstar Racing's Matthew Fleming and Troy Glennan but they would see stiff competition in the form of Bike Culture/GU, Ashfield Cycles, Stevens Bikes and a team of Australian National team representatives - Daniel McDonald and Kyle Ward. With Fleming taking the holeshot, the Rockstars never looked back and led the race to the finish, but the minor places were a tumultuous battleground. Stevens Bikes started well in 2nd but faded back to 5th place at one stage, climbing to 4th by day’s end. The minor podium positions weren't really finalised until the 6 hour mark of the race, Bike Culture/GU were made to work hard by the young guns McDonald and Ward with only 1 minute separating the teams at the conclusion of 17 laps!
The teams of three categories featured familiar names on the podiums with the Stevens Bikes Three taking the mixed, Team Dickinson winning the female category, and Wallies of Pain standing atop the dais for the Male Threes, and with a big field of 7 teams, the Juniors category was decisively taken out by Team Ramrods.
Competitors were rewarded with over $12,000 in cash and prizes from SRAM, Lezyne, Truvativ, Avid, Muc-Off, Jimmy Jack Wines, Aussie Butt Cream, Kenda Tyres, Hammer Nutrition, Nzo clothing and Mountain Biking Australia magazine. Two very lucky competitors went home with random draw prizes including a $1500 voucher from Merida Bikes and a top of the line RockShox SID XX fork worth $1200.
With two rounds remaining in the Series, the competition for overall honours, much like the weather, is really hotting up! Another all-new venue will host Round 6, the Central Tablelands MTB Club have developed some great trails at Rydal near Lithgow. With the town's showground serving as the event centre (and a pub nearby!) the weekend of October 22/23 is expected to be fun and social off the track while the action on track should be fantastic.
For more info see: http://www.chocolatefoot.com.au/singletrack-mind-series