Seven riders took out a hat-trick of titles at the NSW MTBO championships at Newcastle at the weekend.
Rhiannon Prentice (MD, W14A), Nicole Haigh (NC, W40A) and Robert Prentice (NC, M60A) were the 'locals' to win all 3 events.
Victorians Carolyn Jackson (W21E), Heather Leslie (W50A), Kathy Liley (W60A) and Angus Robinson (M17-20E) also took out all three.
The weekend was also the opening round of the MTBO National League and the Australian selection trial for the world championships in the Czech Republic in August.
There was an encouraging turnout of 16 novices on the Saturday morning for a skills and map reading clinic. They then had a crack at a practice course and the recreational event. Even more turned up for Steven Todkill's MTBO lesson, with a few experienced competitors joining in. We had competitors from six states.
The Long Distance event at Holmesville was very challenging technically and required intense navigation in places. There was a short deluge on part of the course which became a bit of a mud run.
The Sprint event at Holmesville put a smile on most of the competitors faces as it was mostly on tight and twisty single track with some challenging navigation and route choices amongst the maze of tracks. Once again a heavy shower caught the tail end of the field.
The Middle Distance at Pelaw Main was a huge contrast with dry conditions, sunshine and some fast tracks with some open sections of land to negotiate.
The three events had positive feedback on the course layout and locations and the sausage sizzle went down well at the end of each event.
It was a big turnout for a NSW Championship event and NSW competitors took most of the podium places at all three events. Click on the blue links above for results. The courses are also on Routegadget.
A huge thank you to the Newcastle club for all their efforts to put on a fun and challenging three events, and to Greg Bacon for this report.
Our next MTBO event is the NSW DuO championships at Castle Hill (Sydney) on Sunday April 12. It's a mix of Foot O and MTBO. Entries close this Sunday (March 29).
