Everyone has their local event, and this past weekend saw the Bermagui Dirtsurfers three hour event be dominated by some of Australia’s XC/Marathon talent. They just happen to live nearby. Here is the write up from club member Peter Gelme:
January 29 saw the Bermagui Dirtsurfers Race season start with a bang, with better than expected numbers the Bermagui Dirtsurfers 3hr Twilight Race was a great comeback event for the club. Of particular note we were privileged to have Brendan Johnston enter in the race, Brendan was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in August 2009 interrupting a promising mountain bike career, an example of his steadfast courage and commitment to the sport, Brendan raced just 16 Days after his initial surgery to remove the cancer at the World MTB Championships in Canberra.
It’s great to see Brendan back on track and putting in some great competition at events again. Brendan came second in the open men’s solo category at the Twilight race, we can only hope Brendan keeps racing at Bermagui to show us some crazy lap times of the track, so a great big well done from all of us at Bermagui Dirtsurfers Mountain Bike Club.
Not to be overshadowed, the event winner Andrew Blair set a new course lap record at 00:16:31, and beat last years total number of laps for the three hour event at 11 laps. All this was on a slightly longer track as well, this was a stunning result and was amazing for the time keepers as those lap times remained consistent throughout the race. For those that don’t know Andrew placed third last year in the Australian Mountain Bike Series, and competed in the 2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Canada. Congratulations to Andrew on winning the event and providing a wonderful Mountain Bike spectacle.
The girls also put on a great show, with Heather Logie putting in an amazing nine lap race to take out first place in the women’s open solo category. Heather has also been putting in the hard yards in 2010, with a win in Tasmania’s prestigious Wildside stage race. Bermagui Dirtsurfers wish Heather luck with her future events and hope to see her again down the coast for the 2012 Twilight race.
With Andy Blair and Heather Logie showing cracking good form, the next block of XC and Marathon racing should be exciting to watch. For more information on the Bermagui Dirtsurfers, check out their website.