The heat was on for the opening event in Newcastle's mountain bike orienteering summer series (BOSS) at Columbey National Park on Saturday.
Temperatures in the mid-30s made for thirsty work, but weather aside the area had everything: fast single tracks and roads, some difficult route selections and some really fun downhills with water diversion berms to jump off.
There was even a creek crossing, which was handlebar-deep if you tried going through the middle of the crossing.
Following some advertising on the local MTB Facebook page we had 18 first-timers which was a great result. With a little help with their route planning, most navigated around the course and the points were fairly close in the All Score category.
"I'll be back," said first-timer Ginaya. "Thanks for the warm welcome to everyone there. A well-run event."
"Was great fun. Will be back," added Rob.
Steve Todkill travelled around 24km in the 75 minutes and was two controls short of clearing the course. Carolyn Matthews continued her fine form being first of the ladies and at the pointy end overall. Cassie Thompson came in ahead of Margaret Peel in the ladies all-score class with Mick Cann and Isaac Mordue fighting it out in the men’s class.
It was a great result for promotion and introducing riders to MTBO. Thanks to Greg Bacon for this report and well done to Newcastle. BOSS 2 is on Sun Nov 25 at Wallaroo State Forest.
