A truly stellar field featuring current and past World Champions, Olympic medalists and Australian Title Holders will race for glory in the Otway Odyssey Mountain Bike Marathon on February 20th, between Apollo Bay and Forrest, 2 hours south west of Melbourne. In its 4th year the event has grown to be the largest mountain bike event in Victoria and second largest in Australia. The popular event sold out before Christmas with 1750 competitors tackling the 100km, 50km Shorty and 15km Pioneer races.
Participants are travelling from all over the country in the hope that they can conquer this challenging but scenic 100km mountain bike course. Riders are rewarded for the tough hill climbs with beautiful views over the Great Ocean Road and rainforest of the well built and maintained tracks of the Otway Ranges.
This year the field is the strongest ever and probably stronger than any other mountain bike event in Australia due to the reputation and length of the race attracting both the sprinters and 24 hour endurance mountain bike athletes. The men to watch are Jason English (reigning 24 hour World Champion), James Williamson and Craig Gordon (both former World 24 hour World Champions), Sid Taberlay (5 times Aust Champ and Athens Olympian), Murray Spink (2007 Otway Odyssey winner and 3rd 08 & 09) and numerous others who could knock them off including Dan McConnell, Shaun Lewis, Locky Norris, Adrian Jackson, Ben Hogarth, Paul van der Ploeg, Matthew Fleming and Troy Glennen.
Phil Anderson, the cycling legend who put Australia on the map with his Tour de France feats is a regular at this race in the Veteran category. No doubt he’ll be nipping at the heels of the elite men reminding them that age is no barrier.
The women’s field is equally as strong with 2009 winner Katherine O'Shea going head to head with 2007 winner Tory Thomas and Rowena Fry (2009 & 2010 Aust Mountain Bike Champion). Judith Ardnt, T-Mobile team member and German Olympic medalist in both the Road Race and Individual Pursuit will also be a force and we’ll see if her transition to mountain biking is a success. Forrest local, Jessica Douglas, Terri Rhodes, Naomi Hanson, Jodie Willett, Joanna Wall, Jo King and Jenni King are also featuring heavily in the betting ring.
In addition to the professional mountain bikers there are many exceptional athletes trying their hand at this sport. David McCormack has done a massive 31 Ironman Triathlons, 10 in Hawaii and 57 marathons. But this is his first mountain bike race. Sean Bruce has done 12 Ironman triathlons and Terry Donges has done 5. Brendan King has raced in both the Triathlon and Xterra World Champs and Thomas Blumson-Thiele will be fresh from the Adventure Racing World Champs in New Zealand a week before. Mountain runner, Aaron Knight and professional motorcross rider, Justin Carafa, are both doing the event for pre-race fitness. There are many roadies who are seeing what the other half rave about. Andrew Stadler is one such person who raced the circuit in Europe and was an under 23 National Road Race Champion. We’ll see how they all fare in this tough off road format.
Making up the rest of the field are plenty of novice riders and nervous first timers who are just hoping to finish to be able to lay claim to an Otway Odyssey notch on the belt.
There’s more to this event than the riding though. There's a big bike expo that is at Forrest Football Ground. Spectators can shop for all the best bike products while tasting local produce and cheering the riders as they loop through the football ground. This is a rare spectator friendly and entertaining mountain bike race.
For more information check out the event website at www.otwayodyssey.com
Participants are travelling from all over the country in the hope that they can conquer this challenging but scenic 100km mountain bike course. Riders are rewarded for the tough hill climbs with beautiful views over the Great Ocean Road and rainforest of the well built and maintained tracks of the Otway Ranges.
This year the field is the strongest ever and probably stronger than any other mountain bike event in Australia due to the reputation and length of the race attracting both the sprinters and 24 hour endurance mountain bike athletes. The men to watch are Jason English (reigning 24 hour World Champion), James Williamson and Craig Gordon (both former World 24 hour World Champions), Sid Taberlay (5 times Aust Champ and Athens Olympian), Murray Spink (2007 Otway Odyssey winner and 3rd 08 & 09) and numerous others who could knock them off including Dan McConnell, Shaun Lewis, Locky Norris, Adrian Jackson, Ben Hogarth, Paul van der Ploeg, Matthew Fleming and Troy Glennen.
Phil Anderson, the cycling legend who put Australia on the map with his Tour de France feats is a regular at this race in the Veteran category. No doubt he’ll be nipping at the heels of the elite men reminding them that age is no barrier.
The women’s field is equally as strong with 2009 winner Katherine O'Shea going head to head with 2007 winner Tory Thomas and Rowena Fry (2009 & 2010 Aust Mountain Bike Champion). Judith Ardnt, T-Mobile team member and German Olympic medalist in both the Road Race and Individual Pursuit will also be a force and we’ll see if her transition to mountain biking is a success. Forrest local, Jessica Douglas, Terri Rhodes, Naomi Hanson, Jodie Willett, Joanna Wall, Jo King and Jenni King are also featuring heavily in the betting ring.
In addition to the professional mountain bikers there are many exceptional athletes trying their hand at this sport. David McCormack has done a massive 31 Ironman Triathlons, 10 in Hawaii and 57 marathons. But this is his first mountain bike race. Sean Bruce has done 12 Ironman triathlons and Terry Donges has done 5. Brendan King has raced in both the Triathlon and Xterra World Champs and Thomas Blumson-Thiele will be fresh from the Adventure Racing World Champs in New Zealand a week before. Mountain runner, Aaron Knight and professional motorcross rider, Justin Carafa, are both doing the event for pre-race fitness. There are many roadies who are seeing what the other half rave about. Andrew Stadler is one such person who raced the circuit in Europe and was an under 23 National Road Race Champion. We’ll see how they all fare in this tough off road format.
Making up the rest of the field are plenty of novice riders and nervous first timers who are just hoping to finish to be able to lay claim to an Otway Odyssey notch on the belt.
There’s more to this event than the riding though. There's a big bike expo that is at Forrest Football Ground. Spectators can shop for all the best bike products while tasting local produce and cheering the riders as they loop through the football ground. This is a rare spectator friendly and entertaining mountain bike race.
For more information check out the event website at www.otwayodyssey.com