King’s Mountain Bike Classic
Last Sunday (1st November) saw the running of the 3rd annual King’s Mountain Bike Classic. Held on a purpose built MTB track around the King’s School in North Parramatta, the event promotes fun, friendly competition and camaraderie amongst participants. While it’s primarily aimed at schools with mountain bike programs, it’s also open to ex-King’s students and the broader MTB community.
This year the event attracted 105 riders, ranging from first timers to experienced mountain bikers. Participating schools included Abbotsford Public School, Glenwood High School, Northholm Grammar School, Hills Adventist College, Macarthur Anglican School, Redfield, Scots College, Gilroy Catholic College, Sydney Cathedral School, Thomas Hassall Anglican College, Knox Grammar School and The King’s School.
Both teams and solo formats were offered with racing taking place over a two hour period on the 4.6km long track. Mercedes-Benz of Parramatta sponsored this community-based event with dealer principal, Meon Nehrybecki stating, “The best part of the event is that it’s a first class trail and that everyone from age 7 to 70 can have ago.”
Racing kicked off with a Formula One style start before the pack took to the exciting flow trails and challenging singletrack. Open Male Solo winner Matthew Dinham (Knox Grammar) completed 12 laps; he described the track as, “A good course with lots of technical features that make it a lot of fun.”
These sentiments were echoed by the majority of the participants who found the track provided a good balance between technical riding while still being accessibility for riders of all skill levels.
‘Team Mechanical Advantage’ from King’s School (Hamish Campbell-Whittaker and Nicholas Walkden-Brown) took home the coveted School’s Team Trophy, completing nine laps in two hours. Thomas Hassall Anglican College fought hard to keep the trophy for the second year in a row, but were unable to do so.
Thomas Hassall Anglican College did receive a number of podium finishes, including first place in the School Student U19 Male category (Scott Reynolds - 11 laps) and second in the School Student U15 Male Solo category (Marco Kalik - eight laps). Team Simpardo (Joseph Simpson and Hayden Ricardo) won the Open Teams event completing 11 laps.
Ex-Kings students (AKA ‘Old Boys’) were well represented on the roster. Richard Todhunter (’78) and Charlie Baldry (’77) took out first and second place in the Open Male Solo 50+ category, each completing nine laps. Lucas Bendt (’04) just missed placing in the Open Male Solo category, finishing fourth with nine laps.
In recent years, King’s has offered mountain biking along with other sports growing in popularity including volleyball, water polo and badminton. Headmaster Dr Tim Hawkes views mountain biking as a ‘life sport’ and is thrilled that King’s is able to provide these facilities to students and the wider community.
Cycleworld from Concord West was also on site to help with any mechanical issues and the race management was provided by Rocky Trail Entertainment.
Check out the clip to get a better idea of the action.
