Jason English took out the overall win placing 1st in A grade, on a non-electric mountain bike at the first race of the year at Singleton Mountain Bike Club.
Jason kept the two young E-bike riders in check who just might have been thinking they would lead the charge especially up the 1st steep climb.
Luke Hafner had his E-bike set to boost mode and gave a hard chase right to the end, wining the E-bike category over William Tatt.
While Luke was the only other rider to match Jason’s 5 laps, he wasunable to match Jason’s pace, at one point he shouted to the large crowd of spectators the question many of us havepondered before “is Jason even human!?”
The event, held on May 26, was att4nded by 37 riders, including 13 under 18s, at Singleton Mountain Bike Club’s first ever cross country mountain bike race.
After plenty of rain around the Hunter Valley in the lead up to the race and many coastal tracks suffering a drenching leaving many too wet to ride, Singleton’s Maison Dieu track was in great shape for racing.
Race Co-ordinator Russell Jones said the Club committee and members prepared a near perfect loop that had many seasoned Maison Dieu mountain bike riding regulars thinking it was their first time.
Modifications to the track for the race meant uphill was downhill, down was up, lefts and rights came thick and fast. The result was a flowing 5.5km loop with well-placed climbs and descents.
Richella King took out the overall win for the women placing 1st in B grade and showed she was in a class of her own by being the only woman to make a fourth 5.5km lap, with only seconds to spare before the cut-off time, it was certainly close!
B grade Men was tightly contested with Geoff King 1st, Dave Tattis 2nd, and Dustin Rooks 3rd and all entrants getting 4 laps in.
C grade Men was the biggest field at the start line with 12 riders in the field and Don McWha crossing the line 1st with a commanding near 3-minute lead on his closest rivals of Glen Scholz in 2nd and Idris Arthur in 3rd and less than a second separating the two.
D Grade Men saw 1 rider just scrape over the line to start a 4th lap, Declan Northcott taking the win with 4 laps, Jason Rose 2nd and Ken Dreaper 3rd to cross the line with 3 laps each and only a minute or 2 short of getting that 4th lap on the card.
D grade Women had some very close racing with Karen Sewell, Mia Davies and Sonia Locke crossing the finish line in that order, all on 3 laps, and about 2 minutes separating them, this will be exciting to watch in our next races to see if these 3 can hold onto or improve their placings.
“Singleton Mountain Bike Club is keen to see other women mountain bike riders come and test their power output against them, make them work harder for the podiums, or chase down Richella for the overall win,” Russell said.
The under 13 years Kids race was a tough one.
With a 1.4km loop on the main race track the kids had a tough climb right to the top of the Maison Dieu hill to start the lap, testing their resolve and determination.
From there it was what mountain biking is all about – with big climbs come long descents! By the time riders got to the bottom they had forgotten how big the hill was and went back for more.
Zoe Ross took the overall win in the Kids category with 5 laps and Flynn Ross also belting out 5 laps to win the boys. Billie Jacka managed to pedal a full lap out and will no doubt be stronger for making it up that big climb.
Mr Jones said “big thanks to the SMTB club committee, members and especially to the volunteers.
“With out you we cannot race.”
Singleton Mountain Bike Club has three additional races planned for 2024 at Maison Dieu MTB track at 240 Maison Dieu Road;-
- A 2 hour cross country MTB race Sunday, July 28.
- A 3 hour cross country MTB race Sunday, September 8.
- Hunter Schools Mountain Bike Teams Race Friday, November 1.
