Round six of the 2015 Shimano GP Series was held on the weekend and it took a brand new course at Mowbray Park in the Wollondilly Shire to the south-west of Sydney.
Mowbray Park Farm is a privately owned holiday farm and, with help from the Wollondilly Macarthur MTB Club, the Briggs family has built a 9km XC loop on their land. The trails are fun and rewarding with the event centre offering great a view of the action.
The course was five years in the making and around 200 riders took part to christen the trails. Here’s a wrap of the race action from the organisers, Rocky Trail Entertainment:
Four Hour Racers
In the four hour event, Andrew Lloyd from Newcastle again controlled the men's solo field and with a race win in the general classification (GC) he took out the overall series title as well. More than 250 male solo riders had competed in the six events that included James Estate Winery (Upper Hunter Valley, NSW), Awaba MTB Park (Newcastle, NSW), Ourimbah MTB Park (Wyong, NSW), Stromlo Forest Park (Canberra, ACT), The Australian Botanic Garden (Mt Annan, NSW) and the final round at the brand-new trails in Picton. Andrew Lloyd claimed the overall line honours at Mowbray Park Farm with 10 laps completed in 4:08:05 ahead of Michael Clark from Winston Hills (+2 min) and Dave O'Connell (-1 lap) from Chatswood. In the 4 hour solo series men's GC Max Richardson from Erina came in second place, ahead of JetBlack racer Michael Crummy from Richmond.
The women's solo field was dominated throughout the series by a strong Wendy Stevenson, the experienced SuperMaster racer from Waverton in Sydney. Stevenson won the overall title with a race win in Picton - 7 laps in 3:57:31 - ahead of Central Coast's Charlie McCabe (+3:18 min), the women's series runner up. Third at the final series race was Tarryn Myburgh from Lilyfield (NSW) and the third series spot overall was claimed by Mondraker racer, Kellie Weinert from Kearns (NSW).
Seven Hour Series
JetBlack racer Andrew Finlayson from Sydney is the 2015 SHIMANO MTB GP Series winner in the seven hour solo men’s general classification and the his runner up, Jarrad Connolly from the Central Coast was the race winner in Picton. “This was a great finish to the series! I gave everything to claim this victory. The trails were in great condition, what a spectacular venue – the climb to the finish was brutal, but the descent that followed at the beginning of every lap with that view was just insane”, he said.
In the seven hour men’s solo general classification Connolly finished with 16 laps in 7:24:27 ahead of Jason Pearce from Singleton (-1 lap) and Canberra’s Sam Moffitt.
In the women’s race, Catherine Wood from Linden (NSW) won with 12 completed laps in 6:58:35 ahead of Wingello’s Leah Childs (+11:37 min) and Melinda Allen from the Sutherland Shire, who is the 2015 solo women’s series winner. Melinda Holmes from the Central Coast came in second overall, ahead of Dalene Pretorius from Tooraweenah near Dubbo.
More than 600 individual riders competed in the entire series and the organisers from Rocky Trail Entertainment together with naming rights sponsor, Shimano Cycling Australia, confirmed that at least five rounds will be held as part of the Shimano Mountain Bike Grand Prix Series in 2016 with several new locations again on the radar.
For detailed results, visit www.rockytrailentertainment.com
The trails are open for casual trail riding if you are visiting Mowbray Park Farm, or you can take part in a Wollondilly Macarthur MTB Club day. Check with the crew at Mowbray Park Farm for more: www.farmstayholidays.com.au/walkingrunningtrack.html
