2010 Australian Marathon MTB Championships - Avoca Victoria

Sam was also keen to head down with us, for various reasons Heather ended up doing the road trip with some others however she had a spectacular race there and won elite womens so now has her first (hopefully of many) Australian Green and Gold jersey for a UCI recognised mountain bike discipline.

Sam had what she thought was a pretty average race and did not enjoy the course, however ended up with 3rd in womens vets (in 7h36m) (she would have been 2nd in Open women), Alex enjoyed the course (the adventure racer in him coming through) though he had a tough day out finishing in 6h40m. I had a pretty good race finishing in 6h15m and 3rd in open mens. Alex and I both rode single speeds (I was the first SS across the line from what I can see), most people who saw me out there thought I was crazy as it was an extremely hilly course with over 3500 metres of vertical gain in the 93km ride.

I thought the SS was not too bad, it was a bit slow on some of the flat and down hill sections, however when going up hill most of the things other people rode near me I could also ride and was pushing when they were pushing, I liked the beauty of the area and enjoyed the day out (possibly influenced by doing fairly well). Obviously I should have left the camera behind or tried a little harder as second place open mens was less than 1 minute in front of me (though I did not realise the guy I had been talking to from time to time during the race was also in my category). However the 1st place in the category was filled by Simon (Thommo) Thompson (Olympic Triathlete) so I do not feel too bad being beaten by somewhat that fit and fast (and he was 40 minutes up on me).

fullsize At the start of the mens field getting ready to go. fullsize John Henderson, he was there, so was Ben, in the end John beat Ben, way to go John. fullsize Alex ready to go. fullsize Waiting for the gun. fullsize Flat fire road section before the king/queen of the mountain first climb of the day (500m vertical gain). fullsize A view out toward the flat lands from high up on the first climb.

fullsize On the flat section before the second aid station I got talking to someone on a lovely looking carbon fibre trek duallie. fullsize He took a photo of me too. fullsize I caught Sam around 40 km in to the race not long after the second aid station. fullsize Sam was already having a fairly tough day and we had not gotten into the nasty part of the course yet. fullsize I thought this looked rather lovely, though it does not come through in the photo, bike part included to prove it was a cycling shot. This is on the Pyrenees walking track we used for a lot of the second half of the race. fullsize The finish had us weave up and down among the vines of the Avoca Winery.

fullsize Crossing the finish line. fullsize Heather won the Queen of the mountain as well as winning womens over all. Rock on Heather, as Andrew said, total dominance of the Australian Marathon and Stage MTB racing scene. Way to go. fullsize My shiny new medal presented to me by Russ. fullsize Thommo receiving his Nemesis jersey (all category winners got one, the Elite/Overall winners received the Green and Gold MTBA/CA jersey) fullsize Rare for me to be on a podium with Thommo. fullsize I feel a bit bad that though I hang out with a lot of Simon's friends I do not know him that well. fullsize Lovely guy though and a deserving winner.