40+ at Copeton 6 Hour

Post date: Jan 15, 2013 11:35:41 PM

No I'm not making a statement associated with the general age of the NEMTB crew that headed over to Copeton Dam last weekend for some fun in the sun! It was HOT!!!

It was lucky for us that the race commenced at 12pm and that it was only 38C in the shade with the temperature notching up a couple of degrees before stabilising at just over 40C once the sea, sorry lake, breeze came in. A lot of Garmins etc were registering a lot higher than this once you headed around to the sheltered valley hill climb.

We were very happy to hear that Mick, one of the key organisers/sponsors, from Bikes in Byron (which is located just down the road in Inverell on Byron St and not Byron Bay), had decided a week earlier to remove the first technical hill climb due to the forecast heatwave. Surprisingly we actually enjoyed riding the rough, new freshly cut detour.

So as always the Inverell Mountain Bike Club headed by their humble leader Tony Williamson had prepared one sweet race with the aid of the Westpac Helicopter team.

NEMTB had a good show of “sweaters” all competing in everything from juniors, pairs, threes and the rarely tested solo category!

NEMTB rider results were as follows:

The junior teams (3 hours) were well represented by Brent Rees/Angus Gasbarri coming 1^st with 6 laps, Oscar Lamb/Robert Butcher in 2^nd with the same number of laps five minutes behind. Jack Feltham/Jack Wake came 3^rd with 5 laps and Katherine Hosking/Isabella Hosking completed 3 laps.

In the overall teams the Mick Harris/ Greg Manntan combination came 2^nd (14 laps) taking out the defending champions Dave Harris/Peter Hosking who came 3^rd (13 laps). Dave managed to ride three different bikes and had four punctures during the day.

Paul Billings was the clubs only Solo Open rider and he placed 2^nd with 8 laps. What a great effort!

The Elite 2 Person Team category was won by Holly Harris/Patrick Marquardt with 12 laps followed by Stewart Meatheringham/Paul Marquardt with 11 laps. Clarry Butcher/David Lamb took out the Open 2 Person team with 12 laps. Chris Feltham/Bill Wake came 2^nd with 11 laps.

Bill Perrottet/Paul Gellie/Dave Mills came 1^st in the 3 Person Team category with 12 laps and Martin Thoms/Glen Hand/Murray Scown came 2^nd with 11 laps.

The Armidale girls, Barb Hosking/Lisa Harris/Kath Gwynne competed in the Women Open 3 Team category and came 1st with 8 laps.