A race being held on 07/07/13 was always going to be auspicious in terms of numbers, and so it proved to be – several new course records including outright fastest time over the Long Course, and a record field of 94 starters.
A beautiful day for racing, over a fast course produced excellent results across the field, and hearty appetites for the post-race pancake spread.
Jason Chalker's long-standing Long Course record, set in 2005, finally fell to the impressive Scott Chancellor, who took 18 seconds off Jason's overall course time, and a mere 3 seconds off his bike course record en route. Scott seemed to be barely puffing as he crossed the line after what most consider to be a pretty tough race. Not far behind Scott were Matt de Pomeroy (1:43:24), David Osmond (1:44:16), John Power (1:44:45), Steve Fitchett (1:47:02) and Kelby Murray (1:49:18), making it an unprecedented 6 finishers in under 1:50.
The Male Over 50 Long Course race saw every record beaten today. Gary Lilley set the first run and bike course records on his way to a remarkable finish time of 1:57:50 – the first Male Over 50 to break the 2 hour mark on this course; while Jon Schol made up for an unintentionally extra-long bike leg to set a new fastest time over the final run of 40:12.
The other record to fall in the Long Course race was in the All-Female Teams, where Elizabeth Humphries (who already holds the Mixed Team record with Dave Osmond) teamed up with Louise Sharp to set a new time of 2:02:45, bringing them home a mere 7 seconds behind the first All-Male team "Cowbatch"!
Fastest team on the day however was the Mixed combo of Mace Neve (runner) and Trevor Jacobs (mountain bike) who clocked 1:59:18 between them.
Sophie Bos was the fastest Female Under 50 today, winning in 2:10:24 with quite a margin to the rest of the field, including Kate Vandenberg in 2:24:39, who had her own excellent race with 3rd-placegetter Liz Stephens (2:25:52). Sally Jeffrey took out the Solo Female 50+ category in a sprightly 2:30:06.
In the Short Course race, Alan Clark sped around the course faster than any Male 50+ ever has before him, clocking 43:45 and taking the final run course record as well as the overall time.
It was Brett Jones who won the race outright however, in an excellent time 37:15, from Matt Cuzner (38:57) and Mark Simpson (39:32). Lou Basyoni took out the Women's race in 45:23 from Jasmine Foxlee (46:31) and Samantha Rampant (48:17).
Amongst the teams, it was "The Flames" who took out the competitive Mixed Teams category in 44:45.
Congratulations to all who participated in the race, which was held in a marvellous spirit of cooperative enjoyment. We are very sorry that some bikers in the Long Course found their bike leg extended thanks to a mischievous walker in the Aranda Bushland who turned a sign to face the wrong direction – and most grateful to the competitors who stopped and corrected the errant sign, thus saving the rest of the field considerable confusion and lost time.
Thank you all for your wonderful contributions – we look forward to seeing you again at future events. Full results are now published, along with some photos from the start/finish area.