A large turnout of 60 riders were greeted by warm and sunny conditions for Gippsland mountain bike club’s running of the Cross Over Cycles 3 Hour Enduro at Foster on Saturday. The event was well supported by Wonthaggi’s Cross Over cycles with a range of demonstration Giant mountain bikes for riders to trial prior to the race as well mechanical services by their helpful staff. The recently upgraded Cement Hill tracks were presented in pristine condition thanks to many hours of hard work from the South Gippsland crew led by Ash Webster. 

The 3 hour race got under way at 1.00 p.m. and appropriately, given the warm weather, the early pace was very hot with many riders going under the 20 minute per lap mark for the 6.2 km course. In a dominant display, Brett Franklin continued to churn out fast laps and won by just over a lap from Gippsland MTB stalwart, Brian Wallace with David Croxford close behind in third place. In the ladies category, Britta Weller also showed her rivals a clean pair of heels to win going away from Kirstin Curtis with Melanie Mitchell not far behind in third place. The team’s event was also one way traffic with Adam and Glen Wiggins winning comfortably and also completing the most number of laps on the day to win from the team of Ash Webster and Shem Hawking and the team of Samuel and Geoff Frankland. The junior’s category was taken out by Troy Taylor who, in a great effort, had only five solo riders ahead of him at the finish. In second place behind Troy was Malte Adebahr with Jack Hyland finishing in third place. 

To encourage the mountain bikers of the future, the club also held a kids race of half an hours duration for 6 to 12 year olds on some of the same sections of the track the actual race was being run on and lots of fun was had by all. 

Overall, a great day was had by riders and spectators alike on a challenging but fun track. 

The March running of Gippsland MTB’s cross country series will be held over due to Gippsland MTB’s running of the Victorian Downhill Series Round at Mt. Baw Baw on March 23rd and 24th. The next XC event to be held is a Point To Point race at Glengarry on 28th of April.