Finish Line Singletrack Mind Series - Round 5, Orange, NSW

The central west of NSW is fast becoming a major regional destination for cyclists of all types and particularly for mountain bikers. The profile of venues such as Kinross State Forest near Orange helped in no small part by its hosting of a round of the NSW state MTB series, the “Finish Line Singletrack Mind Series”. A five-race series that visits locations as widespread as Mogo in the south and Taree in the north.

This year is the second time that organisers Chocolate Foot have chosen Orange to host the series finale due to the quality of the trails, the proactive local MTB club, support from Orange City Council and great spring weather. Orange didn’t disappoint on Sunday with 8km of fast, grippy track and absolutely perfect weather for the 4 and 7 hour endurance format races.

With the series honours for many categories yet to be decided, this ensured fast and highly competitive racing between the 235 registered riders. Local gun, Angus Tobin used his local knowledge to great effect, hitting the lead on the first lap and putting an astounding 1 minute into his rivals.

The 4 Hour solo categories were the first to be decided, the Open Women featuring gun Canberra rider Brooke Rowlands, who established an early lead, held it to the end and recorded the fastest lap time of all female competitors in the process. Fellow Canberran Eva Boland has been locked in a series long battle with Sydney’s Melissa Nuttall, with Boland placing 2nd she would have just enough points to claim the overall win for the series over Nuttall with Leah Childs in 3rd overall.

The 4 Hour Junior category featured Australian national team representative Luke Brame, showing his class he not only won his category but won the 4 Hour race overall as well! The Open Men saw Graham Nisbet take his first win for the series, the points securing him the series overall ahead of Ben Porter. The Female Masters saw another win to Katrina Skellern but with consistent results across the series the overall went to Veronica Russell. The Male Masters saw a battle between familiar names, Jamie Vogele taking the day’s prize and 3rd overall while Trent Moore came both 2nd on the day and in the series. Not the best day for Wayne Dickinson, retiring before the end of the race but his two wins early in the series were enough to give him the series champion trophy.

As the day hotted up so did the racing in the 7 hour categories! The Female Pairs have been very a competitive category throughout the series and the final round would be no different as The Chocolate Footed Fairy Penguins got off to a flying start while their nemesis, the Short Circuit Chix found themselves in unfamiliar territory, 4th after the first lap behind another Chocolate Foot women’s development pairing and Team05 Racing. Short Circuit worked hard throughout the 7 hour duration and with only 30 minutes remaining their gap to the lead was only 40 seconds. Fairy Penguins team member Linda Corrigan then pulled out a lap almost 2 minutes faster than her previous one to seal the race and series win.

The Male Pairs is always hotly contested, while the ONYA Giant pairing of Lewis Cressy and Brad Morton have won 3 rounds, team McGiant held the lead of the series point score and would need to run 2nd to win or 3rd to tie. With ONYA laying down supersonic lap times, McGiant focussed on the job of securing the series, and despite a botched transition resulting in a slow motion crash, they held 2nd to take the overall. ONYA won their 4th round in a row and came 2nd in the series ahead of the Cobblestone Lane Cycling team.

Male Masters Pairs has been a see-sawing battle across the 5 rounds with only one team, Benny and the Jet, achieving 2 race wins. Their win at Orange sealing the series victory ahead of the Forty Plus Frothers and 3rd to Turner and Hooch. Mixed Pairs featured a dominant display from Doug and Danielle Pollock, winning the round which added to their 2 other series wins, easily clinching the series.

The next generation of mountain bikers looks to be bursting with talent, the Junior category featuring a battle between the Alltrack Juniors and the K3’s. With lap times that would rival many of the top riders the Alltrack team took 4 wins in a row including the final round. In the other 3’s categories, Berm Baby Berm won again in the Mixed, the Masters Threes saw a masterful race from the SXC Masters and, in the Male Threes, the normally dominant POC/Bikeculture Whyte team found themselves on the back foot after DG Cycles rider Angus Tobin’s blistering opening lap. The rest of the race was not without incident for POC/Bikeculture as Aaron Felton suffered two major mechanicals on course, but they kept their cool and clawed back the deficit to record their second win and take out series honours.

The solo categories never fail to amaze with displays of incredible endurance and determination. The rapid progress of Eliza Kwan from relative newcomer to the sport to a now dominant figure has been wonderful to witness, she concluded the 2014 series as she began it by winning the Open Women’s category and consequently the series overall. Liz Smith and Wendy Stevenson finished second and third respectively on the day and overall. The Open Men has been a series long grudge match between good mates Callum McNamara and 2013 series winner Ed McDonald. McNamara looked to have the goods on McDonald but as has been McDonald’s style this year he put in a big mid-race surge to distance and dishearten McNamara. The tactic worked, the gap blowing out to almost a lap, McDonald taking his 4th successive win and claiming the series champion trophy for 2014 ahead of Newcastle’s Andrew Lloyd and Nowra’s Jake Whitton.

The event has been widely declared a fantastic success, competitors raving about the great course at Kinross State Forest and host city Orange, with its great dining, activities and accommodation options. The Finish Line Singletrack Mind Series is set for a 6th big year in 2015, with dates and locations to be released soon.

For more information and detailed results go to: http://www.chocolatefoot.com.au/