The old school dusty trails of Western Sydney’s famous Yarramundi mountain bike trail got another great workout over the weekend. The Western Sydney MTB club are currently running their annual Stans NoTubes summer series of 4hour enduro’s. MarathonMTB.com Marathon Mountain-bike Team member Justin Morris teamed up with perennial pro Nick Both (Swell/Redshift) in the male pairs category and sent us the following report from the event.
Some quality time on the mountain-bike was on the cards with Nick Both and I preparing for the 2011 Otway Odyssey 100km Marathon and next national XC round respectively. It gave me the opportunity to give my new team Scott Scale bike a good workout. The Yarramundi course is definitely suited to a hardtail, with technical ascents and flowy single track hallmarks of the bushland track. It also gave me the opportunity to use SIS nutrition products for the first time in competition. Given high temperatures on the day of the race, the gels lower viscosity was a big asset.
Scorching conditions greeted the field of over 400 riders including some big names. The Rockstar Racing team made their presence felt with the comeback of the legendary Craig Gordon to take out the solo men category. In the pairs Shaun Lewis and Josh Carlson were unstoppable from the gun, opening up a sizeable lead early on in the pairs category. The race of the ‘Wombat Smashers’ (our team name) came to grief early with a front flat in the opening laps. A moment of poor pre-race preparation left me changing the tube with a mini road pump, robbing valuable minutes.
Both and Morris at the presentation ceremony. So grassroots, theres no grass!
Temperatures rose and rose forcing some riders pulled the pin early on. However it was great to see so many people enjoying the event regardless of the heat. These events attract a broad spectrum of athletes, particularly encouraging were the teams of Juniors partaking in the events. Club events such as this are a great springboard for young riders to get into and enjoy mountain biking as a competitive sport.
As the laps turned over the pairing of Nick and I were pulling our way back toward the front of the field, opting to ride together every second lap to limit any more lost time through mechanicals, and to maximise time on the bike. The ‘Wombat Smashers’ eventually finished in third, two minutes adrift of the second placed paring of Ondrej Slezak and Michal Kafka. The Rockstar Racing pair finishing a lap clear to win. All in all a great event with a quality field. Thanks to Erica and Brian ‘Big Dog’ Price, and the WSMTB club for putting up another fun event.
Craig Gordon (Rockstar Racing) finished ahead of David Ludenia and Chad Gossert in the solo men’s category. Marnie Ponton led the women’s solo podium, with Rachael Blakeman and Erin Sullivan filling the second and third steps respectively. Bob Mohan and Alice King took out the mixed pairs race.