The Preston Russell Law 7X7 mountain bike race course consisted a 5.3 km lap
with over 220 metres vertical of climbing per lap. A new link trail, called
“Satan’s Corridor”, provided a lot of entertainment as some riders elected
to ride off a 4 foot high rock drop, others taking the easier, but still
difficult, chicken run. Crash of the day went to Queenstown’s Mike
“Fergburger” Kelly, who decided to land on his head rather than his bike
over the rock drop smashing his helmet in half. Luckily for Mike, he has a
thick head, and he won a new helmet as a spot prise.
The men’s team was won by vivian+espie singlespeeders. After leading early
in the race, vivian+espie team rider Bernard Robinson broke his chain, which
cost the team dearly taking them into last place at the end of the second
lap. R+R Sport team took advantage of this and lead the men’s team section
for most of the day. After a few more mishaps, both Brent Herdson and Garth
Weinburg crashing in Stan’s Corridor and Gerrard Wilson losing his gloves,
the vivian+espie team regained their composure to catch up and overtake R+R
Sport in the last few hours of the race to take the win on 17 Laps (90km
with 3,740 vertical climbing – the height of Mt Cook). R+R Sport team
finished second on a very respectable 16 laps.
The women’s team was won by the “Brake-Hose” on 12 laps and the mixed team
section was won by Wanaka’s “Racer’s Edge” on 15 laps.
The solo entries was a hard fought race between Queenstowner’s Jim Hawkridge
and last years solo winner Mark Williams. Jim had a 6 minute lead on Willy
for much of the race, but Jim punctured with 2 hours to go Willy overtook
Jim to take the win by 8 minutes. Both Willy and Jim completed 16 laps
(that’s 85 km’s with 3,400m vertical climbing) within the 7 hour time slot.
Awesome effort guys.
The Queenstown Mountain Bike Club’s next race is the New Zealand Singlespeed
Championship on Saturday April 24th at 7 Mile Reserve. We need your help
supporting and marshalling for this race. If you are available to help on
the days (or days before) please contact Carey on
href=”mailto:carey@vivianespie.co.nz”>carey@vivianespie.co.nz or
0274858123.