Andy Blair Makes History by Claiming Victory of the Inaugural Port to Port MTB

The final stage of the Inaugural Port to Port MTB kicked off from the pristine Cam’s Wharf this morning, setting the riders up for a fast 49km coastal ride up to Newcastle.

From the get go, heads were down and knees were flying, as Torq rider Chris Hamilton tried to close the 28 second gap between him and Swell Specialize’s Andy Blair. The first climb out of Cam’s Wharf saw Hamilton and his team of young Torq riders driving the pace, with Andy Blair and his team mate Shaun Lewis close behind.

Flying past the town of Swansea in one big pack, Lewis lead the way as he was determined to be there all morning to support his team mate Blair to victory. The early riding by Lewis was impressive as he had not had the best event, finishing outside the top ten on all of the first three stages.

Riders were then led along the coast and onto a wooden slab path which abruptly ended in a pit of sand and into Blacksmith’s Surf Beach. Local Newcastle and Masters Mens 1 leader Stu Adams said the sand was miserable. “We all fell off the board walk, there was a bit of a pile up there that was pretty funny,” said Adams.

As the lead pack pushed through the soft sand, avoiding the waves rolling in, Blair and his right hand man Lewis planned to make the most of the unforgiving sand, and isolate Hamilton from the rest of his Torq team mates. Balancing themselves over the sand between rolling waves, they managed to gain a substantial lead.

Once off the beach riders faced the flat open Fernleigh track, where Blair and Lewis really put the pressure on Hamilton, a role reversal from the previous stages where Blair had been attacked by Hamilton’s Torq team mates.

“We let Chris off the front for a little bit. Thinking he might have a little gap, we let him go. I held him there for a bit to try to wear him out, but he was going well. I thought we aren’t going to get away with it here. Let’s save our power to drive through Glenrock,” recalls Blair.

The approaching trails within the Glenrock Mountain Bike park approached, and this is where things started to shake up. Gradually one by one, Hamilton’s young Torq mates and 18-year old local Christopher Aitken clawed their way up to the leaders. As the group swelled, the trail narrowed, and the pressure was on as they exited Glenrock only seconds apart.

“The Torq guys tried to get rid of Andy on the single track for me, but it just wasn’t long enough,” said Hamilton.

The last section of today’s stage saw riders descend into the suburban coastal town of Mereweather Beach, before heading north towards Newcastle. This is where tactic and preparation really came to play for Blair.

“I went down yesterday to check this section out, as there were a few tricky bits over the beach including tight turns, underpasses and stairs,” said Blair. “We sussed out all those little tricks and it helped a lot.”

As the tight pack appeared around the corner to the final stop at Nobby’s Beach, it was Blair, Hamilton, Lewis, Aitken and Torq riders Bejamin Forbers, Liam Jeffries, and Tasman Nakervis who made it in the final pack. Pushing their way towards the light house, it was a tight scramble to the end ultimately ending in Blair’s favour.