Mountain Devils kicked off their winter season with a double header on the south coast on the weekend of 16th and 17th June. First up was the sprint course held on the Saturday at Glengarry the rural annex of Scots College.
The weather lived up to winter time expectations in the southern highlands with fog, mist and drizzle which whilst not a downpour was with us for the entire afternoon. The going was difficult in parts due to water on the course with slippery conditions making most of the riders cautious. No one escaped the mud with bikes covered with the stuff and drive trains seizing up. The course itself is a mountain biking delight with a surfeit of single track from smooth going in the forests to rocky switch backs on the climbs and descents. The attendance was slightly down on normal due to a clash with two other events on the weekend namely the 49th Paddy Palin Rogaine held at Clandulla and the Metro League event held at Centennial Park. The hard core MTBO crowd was in attendance with an especially strong contingent from Newcastle who took out four of the eight classes.
The rain cleared on Saturday night and Sunday dawned clear and bright. High wind was forecast but did not reach the 90kms predicted. It was just enough to dry out some of the tracks at Currambene forest where Sunday's long course was staged. And an excellent days racing was had. Currambene forest is perfect mountain biking terrain, fairly flat and with some nice single track. The mud was in attendance of course. It's not Currambene unless there is mud. But the weather was perfect. Once again Newcastle dominated on the podium winning 4 of the 9 classes.
The next events in the MTBO Super Series are SS3 & 4 to be held in the ACT on the 30th of June and 1st of July, followed by SS5 & 6 held at Penrose and Belanglo on 28th and 29th July. Check out the Mountain Devils web site for details and entry.
Thanks to Michael Roylance for this report and photograph.
