The New South Wales central west city of Orange turned up beautiful autumnal colours and perfect conditions for the opening round of the SRAM Singletrack Mind Series on 29 April. The first event of the six round series saw a high quality field of 280 riders line up for the 7 hour enduro format event held on the first class trail system built by the Central West Off Road Bicycle Club.
Many of last year’s Series champions were back to defend their titles including Phil Welch, Andrew Hall and Wendy Stevenson, as well as teams such as Stevens Bikes, Bikeculture/Whyte and Mixed Pairs winners Alice King and Ben Cirulis, but a great highlight of the event was to see Garry Millburn back on the bike after a string of surgeries related to his life threatening crash in August of last year.
A tough start loop with a 500 metre climb straight off the line sorted out the leaders as they entered the singletrack and the first to emerge from the forest was John Odams of Bikeculture/Whyte closely followed by Panther Cycles’ Andrew Lumley. This would be played out all day as the racing in the male pairs remained super close right to the end, with Odams and Dale taking an early lead in the Series. In the other pairs categories, Brent Miller and Brooke Rowlands dominated the Mixed Pairs winning by over a lap, the Female Pairs was taken out by Monique Clark and Belinda Diprose while Dan Palmer and Gavin Williams have continued their winning form in the Masters Pairs.
2011 Series winner Andrew Hall on the hunt for Ed McDonald. Photo: Dave Bateman Photography
The solo categories were gripping from start to finish, with tight racing despite the placings not significantly changing. One of last year’s great battles was between Ed McDonald and Andrew Hall, the latter earning the title of Series champion in 2011. Round 1 saw a renewed McDonald and a fatigued Hall who was backing up from a race the day before. McDonald established a gap early in the race and never looked back eventually winning by a lap while the Male Masters was a battle from start to finish between Garry James and Jason McAvoy, the two never separated by more than a minute right to the end. The Female Solo category saw a well-deserved victory going to local rider Janet Martin, and the Masters category featured a win for Catherine Wood.
The Male threes was another tight race, Velosophy Racing had to make up a one minute deficit going into their final lap but Ashfield Cycles keep the pressure on and took the win. The Stevens Bikes trio were all conquering in 2011 and in 2012 it looks like it could be the same story in the Mixed Threes category, with Stevens Bikes winning round 1 from the BG Three. The Juniors category was another win for the Ashfield Cycles crew, Chris Hageman, Ryan Whittaker and Bill Bolton.
Riders were presented with over $10,000 in prizes and over $2,000 in cash, courtesy of the many sponsors who make the Series possible. The SRAM Singletrack Mind Series moves to the ACT, with another 7 hour event at Kowen Forest near Queanbeyan in June, but first the Chocolate Foot crew will be running one of the most challenging half marathon races in the country, the Rock Wallaby in Appin on 27 May.
For more information and entries go to: www.chocolatefoot.com.au
Trail advocate Grant Dowell on course and enjoying the handiwork of his trail crew. Photo: Dave Bateman Photography