Well done to everyone for an enjoyable night of MTB Cross Country racing. Special thanks to Ryder for setting out the course and to Cam Dobson and Kate Stonnill for taking care of the timing. Firstly, congratulations also to all the MMBCC members who competed at the State Series XC races at Avoca over the weekend. Some great results! Welcome also to our first time XC racers: Scarlett Darcy, Lucas Bellman and James Camilleri. We hope you had fun and look forward to seeing you at future races. And so, to the racing… another Irish Handicap where everyone has a chance (If the handicapper has got it right). We are so fortunate to have the Rifle Butts Mountain Bike Park. The trails are fun and challenging. The course was a shortish lap of 2.4km using Bogans, XC and Critters. With the staggered starts and mixed lap numbers for the competitors it is often confusing until later in the race as to who is actually going to win. Seventeen competitors faced the starter with your intrepid handicapper (Damian myself) starting first on a 5-lap journey followed a short time later by the somewhat late arriving Bruce Halket. And so, the countdown continued and starts for all competitors, new racer Scarlett Darcy started at 14 minutes delay for her two laps and the final competitor James Camilleri started for his two laps at 18 minutes. Early on it was clear to me that Bruce Halket was going to take advantage of his superior fitness and reel me in, but I could see that Ben Ross a little further back was showing little fatigue from his weekend of racing, he was on a flyer and relentlessly catching both us older folks (Bruce and Damian). However, bad luck or miscalculation dealt young Ben a blow when he crashed at the end of his third lap; not a serious crash but a couple of skinned and bruised knees and a mechanical issue with his bike meant he was going to be a DNF for the night. As all the competitors got onto the course It was clear that Scarlett Darcy was a lot quicker than anticipated and was going to be almost impossible to catch. And so, it was! Scarlett crossed the line first for a deserved win. In 2nd place Elliot Leatham also flew a little under the handicapper’s radar and posted a solid ride for three laps. Bruce Halket raced fast and passed all but the leading two for 3rd. The ever present and supremely consistent Mr David Bock rolled over the line in 4th and Lucas Mennen was 5th. Fastest on the night was Bruce Halket! Well done. What might have been if not for the two ‘Roughies’ ahead of him. Here are the results. In a big change from the previous XC night the Chadd brothers, Ryder and Micah, fought out a tough back-of-the-field family race finishing 15th and 16th respectively. Alastair Ross was the only finisher from the Ross family with Ben’s crash and dad Tim’s absence. Congratulations everyone!
