On a day for the history books, the Otway Odyssey delivered another epic race of high quality, hard racing on Saturday 24 February, 2024 at the 18th edition of the event in Forrest, Victoria.
The early starts saw the elite women onto the 100km course first, with a truly formidable line up. With World Cup star Rebecca Henderson returning to the event, all eyes were on the talented rider. But what about Zoe Cuthbert? Ella Bloor? Gina Ricardo? Courtney Sherwell? Samara Sheppard? The list went on – but as did the race. The elite men’s field was no less star-studded, with the likes of Sam Fox, Brendan Johnston, Adrian Jackson, Tasman Nankervis, Daniel McConnell, Tali Lane-Welsh, Robbie Hucker and many more ready to go all in. With 1800 riders tackling various distances, event organisers truly have made sure they still capture the imagination of Australian mountain bikers.
A new Otway Odyssey course record
In the elite men’s race many expected all the heads of state to have a big ding dong. And they did… trying to keep Tali Lane-Welsh in sight. Lane-Welsh posted an impressive course record time of 4:27:38, after pushing for an early break and finishing 2 minutes clear of Dan McConnell in second (4:29:13) and Brendan ‘Trekky’ Johnston in third (4:29:36).
“Honestly I’m stoked with the win!” said Lane-Welsh who’s recently joined the cross country, marathon and stage race scene, with a handy bunch of victories so far. “Before XC I was doing downhill races and I thought maybe I’d be better going up the hill, rather than down them, so here I am now giving it a crack!” said Lane-Welsh.
“I didn’t have a plan going into the race; I just knew I wanted to be up the front going downhill and then the gap opened up,” recounted Lane-Welsh. “So I pressed on harder and harder and despite being in the hurt box, managed to keep it keep going.”
“Tali got away super early and no one seemed to give him much respect and I’m like ‘this guy’s proper good’!” said Dan McConnell. “He’s played his cards well today so for me personally it was to ride consistent and save what I had for the finish. So I’m still super happy with that.”
Henderson takes another Otway Odyssey victory
Rebecca Henderson secured her third Otway Odyssey title in the women’s elite race, with a decisive victory in 5:16:34 over Courtney Sherwell (5:24:08) and Zoe Cuthbert (5:25:46).
“I enjoyed today’s race the most out of all the Otway Odysseys I’ve done,” said Henderson who spent most of the race on her own after breaking away from the pack at the 30km mark.
“It’s a hard day out there up front; I did keep wondering where the top men were, and in that last loop I really had to nurture myself and listen to my legs,” continued Henderson. “For me it’s important to be smart about my race and not burn unnecessary energy when you’re vying for the win.”
It was a fiercely contested elite female division with Sherwell and Cuthbert working hard in the field with the likes of Samara Sheppard and Ella Bloor in the mix.
“My climbing legs were on today and they felt good so I could dig deep in that last climb and bring it home strong past Zoe (Cuthbert),” said Sherwell. Samara Sheppard was 4th with Ella Bloor 5th. Gina Ricardo (below) had a strong race but missed a marker and dropped out of the top 5.
The 50km Otway Shorty event was equally as challenging especially on some of the classic single track sections. The men’s race was won by world-cup enduro pro Ryan Gilchrist posting a time of 2:16:02 (while racing his Yeti 160!), with Ben May in second (2:19:40) and Emmanuel Hovette in third (2:21:59).
Gilchrist started racing XC as a grom and happily states, “you can take the boy out of the XC, but you can’t take the XC out of the boy!”
“I had so much fun and that’s what I set out to do today,” added Gilchrist on the win. “I was pushing really hard on the opening section and just did my thing weaving and winding – then the Red Carpet (descent) was a sick section for me and that singletrack is where I can lay it down and recover a little bit too.”
Talented 16 year old Ruby Taylor won the 50km in a time of 2:31:38 with an outstanding display of riding.
“It was a good race. I went out hard, and then I kept going hard and then I finished hard!” said Taylor. “That first set of single track has a lot of weaving between trees which I love; it really was just so much fun!”
Elizabeth Nuspan was in second place (2:38:03) and Katriina Dower was in third (2:41:53).
Results will be found live online HERE.
