 By Diane Chanut - AROC Sport English, 27, overcame local hope Brent Miller in a time of 4:35:23. Local bike shop team member Joel Ryan rounded up the podium arriving only 3 seconds after Miller.
Despite facing cold temperatures and heavy rain that reduced parts of the course to a muddy quagmire, over 1,500 riders took part in the largest mountain bike endurance event of its kind staged in Australia, out of close to 2,000 entered.
Miller, who had only spent two weeks back in training for the event, was forced to race the final section of the course without any breaks after suffering mechanical problems with his bike. He was not the only one out there without break pads left after grinding through mud for 100km!
“The conditions were horrendous, there was a section through Stromlo that was just a foot deep of mud where I was going less than walking pace while trying to ride,” Miller said.
“The mud and the rain make it hard to see but we’re mountain bike riders, that’s we do, we haven’t had a good muddy race in Australia for years and I kind of enjoyed it.”
| 
