This Easter weekend will see Canberra Offroad Cycling Club (CORC) host the Onyabike/OnTheGo MTBA Australian 24 Hour Solo Championships. This event brings together Australia’s best endurance mountain bike riders as they compete for a national title and the coveted Australian champion jersey.
Unlike other 24-Hour mountain bike races, the event is a solo only race. There are no teams. Riders must cross the finish line after 24 hours in order to receive a result, and once out on the course riders can not receive any assistance from support crews or other riders.
CORC have chosen to run the event on the well established Majura Pine Forest trails, with the event centre based in the Innabaanya Guide Camp. An 8km loop will see riders negotiate a variety of undulating and technical mountain biking terrain.
“A lot can happen in 24 hours of racing. You are riding under lights for over 13 hours, balancing a range of factors such as nutrition, fatigue, and weather changes,” said local rider Andrew Hall.
In the men’s field, race favourite is the current Solo World 24hr champion, Jason English of Port Macquarie. In just over 5 weeks, English will be defending his World Champion title at the World 24hr in Finale Ligure, Italy.
“Jason will be hard to beat. He has the experience of twenty 24hr solos and 18 wins … with a lowest finishing place of second,” said local race favourite Ed McDonald of Watson.
In the women’s race, singlespeed rider Bec Parkes has the opportunity to make history, and enters this race as a clear favourite for the women’s overall win.
Late entries have also just been received from French adventure racing champions Myriam Guillot and Jacky Boisset. Both are members of the Thule Adventure Team and current Adventure Race World Champions. Their team of four took the win in Tasmania in November 2011 in a time of 5 days 10 hours and 52 minutes.
Event organiser, Canberra Off Road Cyclists, will be host the World 24hr Solo Mountain Bike Championships in October 2013. This date was selected to coincide with the 2013 centenary of Canberra celebrations, and it will also mark the 10th anniversary of the Canberra bush-fires. Stromlo Forest Park hosted the World 24hr championships in 2010 and brought in 411 racers from 16 countries.