What a weekend this was!
It started on Saturday 1 September with the Nasty Nurse 11.5Km prologue which gave participants a taste for what the longer events were going to be like. Some entrants took the opportunity of borrowing demo 2008 bike models from Cannondale and Scott to test ride that afternoon. Saturday was also the perfect time to tune up bikes and many dropped by the City Bike Depot and Shimano marquees to fix any mechanical issues they had. Significant others were seen shopping for sunnies at the Rudy Project shop and looking very stylish upon exiting the stand!
Even though locals from Mogo and the surrounding towns were ready to welcome the 550 participants to the Netti MTB Enduro and their supporters, they still were surprised at how ravenous they got with some local pizzerias running out of pasta and dough after throngs of hungry participants bought every last bit of food available!
And they were right to eat up before the Angry Doctor 100Km race and the Irate Intern 50Km race on Sunday 2 September as it was tough work out there with rolling hills meandering through beautiful landscape. One competitor puts it best: “The Angry Doctor was super fun and super hard, but overall simply SUPER!” Another, a novice mountain biker who completed the Irate Intern said: “The course was challenging, yet I could not wipe the smile off my face! I had an absolute ball.” The single track was deemed “excellent” by one rider while another praised “really great track with lots of variety, very well marked, and fabulous support out there with all of the feed stations.” Indeed, riders were happy to find 4 feed stations along the way to keep them going, offering CarboShotz gels, Endura drinks, Ducks Nuts Energy Mix packets, as well as Lucozade energy drinks and Sustagen tetra paks – not to mention a heap of fruit buns for extra energy.
The 100km race developed quickly into small groups of riders and by the 50km mark it was Matt Fleming and Peter Hatton who had built up a 3 minute and 20 second lead over Shaun Lewis and World 24 hour MTB Champion Craig Gordon. Then Gordo and Lewis began to haul the others in and by the next feed station had hit the front with Matt Fleming hanging on. Gordo made a break on Lewis before the 80km mark and managed to get over 1 minute in front over the next 10km but Lewis fought back to come within 15 seconds of Gordo with just one kilometre to go. Unfortunately at this point Gordo was sent on another lap by an official who thought he looked far too fresh to be at the 99km mark and Shaun Lewis went the correct way. Shaun crossed the line first followed by Matt Fleming with Gordo finding his way back in later. The results were adjusted back to when the race was fair at the 99km mark thus giving Craig Gordon the win, 2 nd to Lewis and 3 rd to Fleming. This mishap didn't allow Shaun Lewis the opportunity to have a final sprint for the line but he still had 10 to 15 seconds to make up and only 1km to do it. Could he have done it? We will never know but one thing is for sure that Craig Gordon, Shaun Lewis and Matt Fleming all know how to ride a bike on dirt tracks really fast for a long time and an even better thing is that they are all extremely good sports. They were a pleasure to have in the 2007 Netti MTB Enduro race and we are looking forward to seeing the race unfold again in September next year. To complete this tough 100km course with over 35km of pure single track and over 2600m of climb in 4 hours and 18 minutes is just phenomenal! On the Elite Women's side, Naomi Hansen from Tewantin escaped the floods in her hometown and confirmed her race favourite status finishing first ahead of Rosemary Barnes and Diane Perry.
Paul Traynor from Kangaroo Valley was excited to finish first in the 50km Irate Intern event in a time of 2 hours 11 minutes. Moruya local 15 year old Brendan Johnston put in an amazing performance to come second showing that he has a huge future. Matt Potter was 3 rd . Kimberley Fleming who had dropped down from the 100km due to the flu took out the female category followed by Janine Ridsdale and Megan Ross.
Sunday was also Father's Day and it was great to see whole families had come to participate with the Wilson family consisting of dad and 3 sons. Miles Waring and Henry Baird both at 14 years old completed the 50km while dads Chris and Peter did the 100km event.
Characters such as Scooter even rode the whole Angry Doctor 100Km event on a fixed wheel bike and came in 4 th in the Single Speed category after Alan Miller, Josh Beck and David McMurdo and an impressive 62 nd overall. Another fanatic rode his road bike 400Km to come to the event, completed the Angry Doctor 100Km and was going to ride back home!
Finally young local talents did not disappoint and showed their knowledge of their home turf in the Irate Intern 50Km with Brendan Johnston coming in 1st Junior Male and 2 nd overall, and Rebecca Henderson finishing 1 st in the Junior Female category and 4 th woman overall.
There were prizes galore from the title sponsor Netti as well as other partners: Camelbak hydration packs, Cannondale bikes, Continental and Maxxis tyres, Shimano gear, Rudy Project sun glasses, Sigma and Timex bike computers, Australian Mountain Bike subscriptions, Chirosports massage vouchers, accommodation packages from Broulee Beach Holiday Park and heaps of prizes from City Bike Depot. Thanks to Nick and Kate from Chirosports who both rode the Irate Intern 50Km and were still fresh enough to give fellow riders massages and chiropractic advice in their marquee afterwards!
Organisers wish to extend a warm thank you to Eurobodalla Coast locals who hosted the event with such friendliness, Forests NSW for the beautiful area and network of tracks, the outstanding team of volunteers and the very generous sponsors who all made this event the success it was. Thanks to the people who helped us with track building and maintenance weekends as well as to the local Batemans Bay and Moruya mountain bikers who built most of the great tracks in the area. Special mention must go to the “mad digger” who is a genius track builder and is solely responsible for undoubtedly the most fun piece of single track in Australia, the snake track.
Many competitors are already putting this event on their agenda for its next edition on Saturday and Sunday 6-7 September 2008, and word is those who missed out won't make the same mistake twice! See you there…
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