Photo - Jack Feltham dominating the field.

What a great turnout to Walcha’s MTB Track inaugural race. 9 Dirt Masters and 65 full track competitors mopped up the 8.6km track that had been sculpted through the eucalyptus woodland. The weather was kind with none of the recent snow, only light wind and a temperature of around 10C – perfect racing weather.

There were a lot of very positive comments about the new track and Chris Feltham and Speedy (the main track builders) can be very proud of their efforts. In addition to the track, the BBQ egg and bacon rolls and steak sandwiches were hitting the spot on race completion. To top of that, Armidale’s very own Bicycle Central on Marsh had a very nice selection of Merida spot prices that turned some of those frowns upside down as riders crossed the finish line for the final time.

It was very pleasing so see that there were a significant number of new faces, new to us and also to mountain biking. Steve Mair, the main driver behind the NIXCS series, has to be pretty happy with the outcome of the series.

Now to the results. All the dirt masters had smiles on their faces and loved the cheering and encouragement as they passed the rest of the field getting ready for the main race start.

Holly Harris, as was expected, reminded the remaining field that she is the current U23 National Champion with Katherine Hosking (U15 National Champion) following behind. It was great to see a solid field in in this tough 4 lap category with Jacqui Munday and Jodi Mayled placing in 3^rd and 4^th.

The Open Men were shown what youth is all about with the U19 Jack Feltham and Michael Harris taking out the 1^st and 2^nd places and beating them all to the line. Peter Horwood and Andrew Whitehill claimed the 1^st and 2^nd places in the Open Men.

It was a very tightly contested race in the Masters Female with Nardeen Hayden holding off the top place by 1 second to Alyssa Rogan and Barb Hosking taking 3^rd.

Jai Cooper had a smile on his face after taking out the Masters category ahead of the two riders from Inverell, Mick Hoynes and Tony Williamson.

Hugh Munday held out Jack Wake in the U17 three lap race with Curtis Humphry taking 3^rd.

Emily Wooster continued her dominance in the U15 with Isabella Hosking and Grace Ledingham taking 2^nd and 3^rd in their 2 lap race.

Nick Chisholm finished strongly taking 1^st in the U15 with his brother Josh taking 2^nd and Lawson Fittler 3^rd.