Organisers of Australian marathon The Highland Fling this week released a preliminary start list for the event, with a number of the country’s top endurance riders to go head-to-head near Bundanoon, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales on November 14.
Stephanie Russell, the 2009 champion in the women’s event, will return to defend her title as she aims for her third successive victory at the event. She is expected to face stiff competition from Katrin Van der Spiegel and Australian cross-country Champion Heather Logie.
In contrast to Russell, the men’s defending champion Craig Gordon hasn’t been named on the start list for the race. He too would have been aiming for his third win in a row. Last year’s place-getters, Jason English and Shaun Lewis, will start as joint favourites for the event. English should hit the event in good form having last week defended his world 24-hour championship in Canberra.
English and Lewis will be challenged by a host of Australia’s top mountain-bike talent, with Hamish Elliot, Troy Glennan, Matthew Fleming and Peter Hatton all named as starters in the 100 kilometre event.
The so-called ‘Full-fling’ has also lured a number of road racers onto the dirt. Sam Moorhouse, who races for Australian domestic squad McDonagh Blake-Witness will take to the start line, as will Justin Morris, who has recently returned from a stint in the US with the Team Type 1 development squad.
Moorhouse has already shown a level of pedigree off-road having finished third at the second round of the SRAM SingleTrack Mind marathon series in May this year. He told MarathonMTB.com that although he is looking forward to the race he doesn’t expect to be able to challenge his more experienced rivals for the nation’s unofficial national marathon title.
“I was contracted to my road team for the remainder of the season but with only one round left in the National Road Series I’m now focussing on the Marathon events throughout November and December,” he said.
“I don’t rate my chances of a national title but the Southern Highlands are a spectacular patch of dirt. Maybe not so when your in the box but we’ll see come five weeks time.”
While the elite riders will do battle over the 100 kilometre course of the Full-fling, the remainder of the 2000-strong field will be split across the Half-Fling (50km) and the brutal 100-Mile Fling (160km). The out-and-back course includes 2300 metres of vertical ascent with the equivalent downhill.
Details of the elite riders vying for the Full-Fling title are listed below, for full details of the preliminary start list click here.
| Name | Category |
|---|---|
| Jenny Fay | Full Fling – Elite Female |
| Sarah Kubsch | Full Fling – Elite Female |
| Heather Logie | Full Fling – Elite Female |
| Becky Mates | Full Fling – Elite Female |
| Stephanie Russell | Full Fling – Elite Female |
| Katrin Van der Spiegel | Full Fling – Elite Female |
| Nic Arney | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Andrew Arthur | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Jason Beddow | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Andy Blair | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| William Bowron | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Scott Bozinis | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Scott Butler | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Hamish Elliot | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Jason English | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Stuart Ferguson | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Matthew Fleming | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Christopher Giuliano | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Troy Glennan | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| David Hadlow | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Benjamin Hallowell | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Peter Hatton | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Andrew Hawkins | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Mark Hebden | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Axl Jacobs | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Shaun Lewis | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Ronan Magaharan | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Sean Martin | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Andrew Mock | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Sam Moorhouse | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Justin Morris | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Tim Nelson | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Jon Odams | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Clarke Petrick | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Ryan Quade | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Orion Riggs | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Kelly Servinski | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Anthony Shippard | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Dave Shuetrim | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Nathan Spencer | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Shane Spicer | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Tim Strong | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Willem Ter Avest | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Antony Tolfts | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Robbie Verity | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Marc Williams | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Andrew Wilson | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Tim Wynan | Full Fling – Elite Male |
| Cameron Young | Full Fling – Elite Male |