After not being able to compete in this event last year due to injury I was very keen and excited about letting loose on my home turf this year with some hot competition and prize money at stake! After a nice cruisy road ride to the venue I had prepared myself for a good pre-race warm up and was ready to jump on the mountain bike for a bit of a spin before heading to the start line.
At the beginning of the race it was clear who the competition would be-we had Brendon Sharatt, Richard Anderson, Mark (Cabin) Leishman, Logan Horn, Anton Cooper and Kyle Wood.
As soon as we hit the Bridle path and onto the farm track I went to take my first drink out of my bottle but to my horror the bottle wasn't there! This meant I was relying on drink stations and I knew there was one of the top of the climb and one at the top of Castle Hill. This brought back a memory of the 2009 Yahoo Challenge where my bottle had slipped out down the first hill and I had to go through the first large lap with no drink but with this in mind I knew I could get through it as I was well hydrated prior the event.
It was this bunch who gapped the others including myself and while I was sitting at the back we stayed together for the majority of the climb however toward the end of the hill it all started to split up with gaps in between each of the top riders. After not feeling so good on the steep farm track once onto Rapaki and along the tops it was another story-time to get my A into G!!!!
I arrived at the top of the hill in 5th position and after a mouthful of water I was onto the first single track - Witch Hill. Once off this it was time to get my head down and start hammering up the road section to the top of Castle Hill. This was a good point in the race for me as at the bottom of this I saw the other riders climbing up the road too so I hadn't lost too much time up the farm track. With the competition in sight and a seriously quick run up to the start of the track I caught and past Kyle on Castle Hill where once off this we both jumped onto Cabin. This lead us past the next roadie and linking single track section and onto Green Woods. Here we gapped Kyle and caught up to Richard. Cabin got a lucky pass on Richard and I had to settle in behind on a track that I knew I could ride some good pace down however while Cabin was getting away once over the gate and onto Captain Thomas (final downhill) I got the pass on Richard on a split line-Richard went down and I went up! This was exactly what I needed and it gave me the space to catch Cabin back up. Once down the steps and onto the road to my amazement Brendon was only 100 metres up the road and so after we jumped onto him it was clear it was going to be a typical roadie sprint finish after the road ride around to McCormick's Bay. Once off the Cause Way and with about 1km to go I was out in front. In this position I knew I was in control of the situation and at the 200m mark I flicked it up a gear it went crazy to the finish line with the big $500 in sight!!! However just before the line Brendon came along by the outside and just managed to sneak past my wheel to claim the victory with Cabin in third and myself in second! I was extremely pleased with how I rode as the past two events I have done have been frustrating with my performance and while I would have liked to have climbed better in this race I was happy with how I got moving and focused to get the job done-looks like it's going to be a good up and coming season!
A huge thanks to my Sponsor Cycleways in particular Matt Bailey for having my bike in tip top shape for each and every race and to Andrea Murray from Huxster and all members who organised a fantastic event, one that I recommend to anyone and to my parents for being another high class sponsor!!!
