Snowies, Mountain Bike Festival
With a rich prize fund of $10,000 up for grabs, more than 200 participants, including 20 elite riders from around the world descended on Lake Crackenback for the inaugural Snowy Mountain Bike Festival.
With a rich prize fund of $10,000 up for grabs, more than 200 participants, including 20 elite riders from around the world descended on Lake Crackenback for the inaugural Snowy Mountain Bike Festival. The weekend of racing kicked off with a bang on Saturday morning with the first of three stages set for the day before a fourth and final stage on Sunday.
Fellow Canberrans Mark Tupalski (Torq Australia) and 2013 Irish national champion Jenny Fay (Swell Specialized) each recorded the fastest times in their respective elite fields over the 5.5km time trial on stage 1.
Tupalski finished in 10:13.54 over a twisting, undulating course that had been rain-soaked the night before.
“There were a few mud patches that made it a bit interesting,” said the 24-year-old Tupalski after the race. “But overall the trails here are wicked and really flow.”
With only a two-hour reprieve before the 21.1km undulating ascent from Lake Crackenback to Thredbo, there was little time to rest before the racing kicked off again. Andy Blair (Swell Specialized), who is fresh off an AMB 100 win two weeks ago, finished at 53:29.66, just two seconds ahead of Dylan Cooper and four seconds ahead of Tupalski, who remains four seconds ahead of Blair for general classification (GC).
For the women, the stage 2 podium was a carbon copy of stage 1, with Fay again on top with a time of 1:01:35.58. Jodie Willet (Liv Cycling), who was 24 seconds down entering stage 2 falls to 1:49 behind Fay. Switzerland’s Renata Bucher finished third on the stage and remains third on GC at nearly four minutes down with Gwynn Le Maitre knocking on the door at just one minute behind Bucher.
Tactics were tough moving into Stage 3, where local trail knowledge and pacing for the final 75km marathon stage to finish proved to be critical. Blair managed to make it two in a row, winning the 3rd stage finishing only 40 seconds ahead of Dylan Cooper who recovered from a crash to claim second after a tight battle with Kyle Ward that was only decided in the final section of single track. Blair’s win saw him take the GC away from Tupalski, who now sits 1:58 behind, but Blair believes the 24-year-old is still his biggest threat for the overall win.
“He is definitely the strongest guy I see out of the rivals,” said Blair. “He’s probably the guy I’m watching the most. I think with his road training he’s done this year and his recent base training may have hurt him on his top end, but it may really help him in a stage race.
“Plus, if anyone knows how strong he is it’s me,” Blair concluded. “Last year I took the jersey off him at Cape to Cape last year and he took it right back from me the very next day.”
The women’s race was just as intense. Whilst Jenny Fay remains in the driver’s seat for the overall win, Willett is set to make her work for it. The Queenslander clawed back five vital seconds after a thrilling 24km descent.
Willett took the win in 1:01:09.89 just ahead of Fay, and more than six minutes ahead of Switzerland’s Renata Bucher (1:07:50.42).
“I tried to get a gap on Jenny and took a few risks, but just really enjoyed the trail,” said Willett. “She’s very familiar with the trail so it was just really hard to get away.
“So now it’s more about defending second place tomorrow,” she added. “But you never give up in mountain biking as you never know what can happen.”
With it still all to play for in the final 75km Marathon (XCM) event on Sunday, Blair rode strong in a three man leader’s group that included stage 1 winner Tupalski and Cooper who entered the final stage only 40 seconds down on the Australian National Champion.
Inside the first 5km of the final 15km lap, Blair attacked and never looked back to finish in a time of 2:52:29, followed by Cooper (2:53:04) and Tupalski (2:55:58). Other elite pros followed, including Kyle Ward, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on the day, Lewis Cressy, Shaun Lewis and Bradley Morton.
Blair’s 3 stage wins cemented his position atop the final podium, with Cooper in second 1.21 back and Tupalski in 3rd at 5.26.
In the elite women’s division, the final stage looked much like it had all weekend. With Fay pulling ahead to win by more than 13minutes ahead of Willett and Bucher.
Fay’s consistency meant the GC remained unchanged, taking the honors over Willett in second and Bucher in third.
Photo credit: Daniel Simms Photography
