Five riders from the Coomealla-Mildura Mountainless Bike Club will travel to the Adelaide Hills to compete in the Kona Dirty Weekend 24hr MTB race at Cuddlee Creek on the 8/9th May.
Once the starters gun is fired at 2pm on Saturday 8th, riders have until 2pm Sunday to complete as many laps of the rough and hilly ten kilometre track as they can. Most laps wins. Riders can compete in either solo class or in relay teams of 2,3,4 or 6, with riders staying on their bikes all through the night, battling physical and mental fatigue. With 150m of altitude gain – and descent – every 10km lap, fatigue is guaranteed.
Paul Cocks, Leon Pedersen, Jason Dawes and Phil Sullivan are competing in the extremely competitive four man relay team category for the first time. The demanding ride/rest/ride/rest/ride cycle takes it’s toll on team riders, especially when they are trying to drag their resting bodies out of a warm sleeping bag to start a lap in the wee hours of the night. The guys are confident in their preparation and looking forward to a fun event.
Anthony Connell is lining up in the solo class for his third attempt at a solo 24hr race. And while he?ll be happy to just make through the night to the finish line on Sunday, the competition will be hot – the first 50% of Dirty Weekend solo finishers win the right to line up with the worlds best at the 2010 24hr Solo World Championship in Canberra this October.
?The idea of qualifying for the Solo 24hr World Championships is enticing and I?ve trained harder because of it, but so has everyone else, so if I all I do is finish with me and my bike mainly in-tact, I?ll be stoked,? said Anthony.
The five riders will have some great stories to share about their 24hr experience with other riders and spectators at the Coomealla Mildura Mountainless Bike Club?s race the following weekend on the hilly Kerribee course ? 20 minutes drive from Mildura towards Euston – on Sunday 16 May.
Coomealla Mildura Mountainless Bike Club Website: www.mountainlessbikeclub.com.au
Kona Dirty Weekend website: www.bikesa.asn.au
Have a great ride Anthony!
Hey, great articel you wrote 😛
Mel is coming along – I might get her going with SMS updates if you’re interested. I’m definatly thinking afterparty at the Crazy Horse if I qualify for the worlds… do they kick you out for falling asleep while getting a lapdance?
Yeah, did you get this published somewhere?
More importantly, how’d he do?
Got 22nd, qualified for the Solo 24hr MTB World Championships in Canberra this year.
Covered 19 laps of 10.3km course making for ~195km all up. Didn’t crash. Had heaps of support from my lovely Melanie. Just missed out on going out for a 20th lap by 1min 10sec – and I broke my chain on the last lap too, but it was still my fastest by 4 minutes. I thought I could do 200km if all went smoothly, so spot on. Kept the rubber side down too. Great Success!
PS – that writing was from a Press release I sent round to local newspapers.
Fantastic work Ant! Awesome report email too!