Big Hill Events- you're not wrong...
So as I sit here and type, with an enormous plate of food by my side, the inaugural Big Hill 90km Marathon sponsored by Felt Bicycles and Hutchinson, has been run and won in beautiful conditions. Bright sunshine greeted the racers early this morning for setup, and continued throughout the day. 200 riders turned out for the first ever running of the event, making it an excellent number in terms of the course and logistics.
With the site set up in Felt promotional material, the site was set for a great day's racing, and an incredible race it was. If my memory serves me, 2100 vertical meters was covered in (according to my computer) 93km in 3hr45min roughly for the fastest time, so it was a quick day out there! Recent rains had dampened the dust and produced some muddles, which made a pleasant change to the 6 inches of bull dust encountered during practice on the course.
Most of the boys of Felt Racing, lined up on the start line wearing plates #1 through #3, in no particular order.
Ash, mildly apprehensive wearing the 1 plate.
Jase, wondering if he is up to date with daylight saving, or if its time to finish yet, or how many hours sleep he got last night?
Jack, looking at his taped wrist/hand and worrying how much its going to hurt to get that tape off... (a lot we later discovered..)
Joel Read was sadly missed on the pushy, but did a stellar job on the lead moto, giving me plenty to laugh about as he roared around the course, fixing up what the locals had torn down overnight, whilst ensuring we came to no harm on the roads. To see him come roosting by as he pushed to catch and pass us on a few occasions was awesome, the 2 stroke howling briefly was super cool, and a often welcome distraction!
Felt Bicycles employee's made an appearance today also, with Nic taking out 2nd place in the 69km category, a great result for him. Some may also recognise Gez out there today, making it a great change for him to be out from behind the work stand and getting amongst it. I'm pretty sure he even enjoyed it, so perhaps we may see some more of him out on course!
Lead moto rolls out...
BANG... (or "go"...)
The field hits the track for hours of fun!
Out on the course we charged, and immediately Giant's John Claxton asserted himself as the man to chase. From the start, we basically climbed for a 'very long time' (a very precise measurement, you understand) and John rode pretty well on the front setting a frantic tempo, whilst everyone scrambled for position and wondered how long they/he could keep it up. Before the top of the climb, a group of 4 had formed with Kona's Russ Collett, Felt's Ash, Claxton and Olympian Josh Fleming also aboard a Felt. With a minor geographical embarrassment at Anderson's Garden where the chasers briefly caught up, the taps were opened again, and the group of 4 again got away.
Em did an awesome job again today looking after all the boys, driving like a mad woman to be 2 two places at once, she was great once again, so thanks from all of us!
Towards the end of the race, Claxton again hit the gas and broke apart the race, and in the closing 20 or 30km, everyone tried to get across to him, but in the end John was too strong, and both Josh and Russ blew and Ash was able to capitalize and make it home in second place, happily getting a spot on the box! Jack and Jason continued to charge around the course all the way home, however I can't recall the correct placings so I'll get them up ASAP.
**Results are posted here**
Sadly the #1 plate may have been a bit presumptuous, but 2nd place behind Johnny is still enough to make me smile.
Gez finishing his first race in many years! Well done!
And the podium for the Elite men - Ash, John Claxton and Josh Fleming.
So that's it for another race, some great results, plenty of great exposure for Felt Bicycles and some good fun had by all. Thanks to everyone (Rohin, Bruce, The Sleemans for timing, Emma, and everyone else that helped out) that made the day possible, it turned out just great. If anyone has any photos, please feel free to send them to us so we can post them up.
More updates during the week as time allows...
With the site set up in Felt promotional material, the site was set for a great day's racing, and an incredible race it was. If my memory serves me, 2100 vertical meters was covered in (according to my computer) 93km in 3hr45min roughly for the fastest time, so it was a quick day out there! Recent rains had dampened the dust and produced some muddles, which made a pleasant change to the 6 inches of bull dust encountered during practice on the course.
Most of the boys of Felt Racing, lined up on the start line wearing plates #1 through #3, in no particular order.
Ash, mildly apprehensive wearing the 1 plate.
Jase, wondering if he is up to date with daylight saving, or if its time to finish yet, or how many hours sleep he got last night?
Jack, looking at his taped wrist/hand and worrying how much its going to hurt to get that tape off... (a lot we later discovered..)
Joel Read was sadly missed on the pushy, but did a stellar job on the lead moto, giving me plenty to laugh about as he roared around the course, fixing up what the locals had torn down overnight, whilst ensuring we came to no harm on the roads. To see him come roosting by as he pushed to catch and pass us on a few occasions was awesome, the 2 stroke howling briefly was super cool, and a often welcome distraction!
Felt Bicycles employee's made an appearance today also, with Nic taking out 2nd place in the 69km category, a great result for him. Some may also recognise Gez out there today, making it a great change for him to be out from behind the work stand and getting amongst it. I'm pretty sure he even enjoyed it, so perhaps we may see some more of him out on course!
Lead moto rolls out...
BANG... (or "go"...)
The field hits the track for hours of fun!Out on the course we charged, and immediately Giant's John Claxton asserted himself as the man to chase. From the start, we basically climbed for a 'very long time' (a very precise measurement, you understand) and John rode pretty well on the front setting a frantic tempo, whilst everyone scrambled for position and wondered how long they/he could keep it up. Before the top of the climb, a group of 4 had formed with Kona's Russ Collett, Felt's Ash, Claxton and Olympian Josh Fleming also aboard a Felt. With a minor geographical embarrassment at Anderson's Garden where the chasers briefly caught up, the taps were opened again, and the group of 4 again got away.
Em did an awesome job again today looking after all the boys, driving like a mad woman to be 2 two places at once, she was great once again, so thanks from all of us!
Towards the end of the race, Claxton again hit the gas and broke apart the race, and in the closing 20 or 30km, everyone tried to get across to him, but in the end John was too strong, and both Josh and Russ blew and Ash was able to capitalize and make it home in second place, happily getting a spot on the box! Jack and Jason continued to charge around the course all the way home, however I can't recall the correct placings so I'll get them up ASAP.
**Results are posted here**
Sadly the #1 plate may have been a bit presumptuous, but 2nd place behind Johnny is still enough to make me smile.
Gez finishing his first race in many years! Well done!
And the podium for the Elite men - Ash, John Claxton and Josh Fleming.So that's it for another race, some great results, plenty of great exposure for Felt Bicycles and some good fun had by all. Thanks to everyone (Rohin, Bruce, The Sleemans for timing, Emma, and everyone else that helped out) that made the day possible, it turned out just great. If anyone has any photos, please feel free to send them to us so we can post them up.
More updates during the week as time allows...
posted by Ash Thomas at 7:16 pm
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