Big weekends for Nankervis and Mullens in the Otways

Peta Mullens claimed her fourth victory at the renowned 100km Otway Odyssey MTB Marathon presented by Focus, in Forrest Victoria today, Saturday 25 February 2017, with Tasman Nankervis conquering the men’s race.

The eleventh edition of the Otway Odyssey confirmed its’ status again as the most challenging yet rewarding mountain bike marathon in Australia, courtesy of the thirst-building single track terrain.

The premier 100km race continues to attract an impressive lineup of riders with over 1,200 mountain bikers taking to the Forrest trails, with the event also catering for novice and junior riders.

Mullens, a former Australian Road Cyclist Champion and current professional rider, claimed her fourth 100km Otway Odyssey victory in a time of 5hours, 21 minutes and 25 seconds, finishing well ahead of the hotly contested female field.

“The Odyssey was my first marathon event so it has very fond memories for me. I’ll keep coming back as I love the trails here.” Said Mullens.

Mullens’ took the early lead going out hard, before saving some gas in the legs for tomorrow’s first ever Great Otway Gravel Grind.

“I’m pleased with the race. I didn’t come close to my course record, but I got reports there was a bit of a gap in the second half so I thought I’d keep some in the legs for tomorrow.” Continued Mullens.

Friends and rivals Renata Bucher and Jess Douglas battled it out behind Mullens, finishing second and third respectively.

“It was a tough day, I’m actually really thankful to be second; Jess (Douglas) was on my wheel and leading me a fair bit too. Some days you feel better, but today was a hard one.” Said Bucher, an Xterra World Triathlete.

Douglas is an 11-time Odyssey competitor, not to mention 3-time World 24hour MTB title holder, and today she set a personal best over the course.

“I just went for my little PB’s today that I wanted to hit, so I’m happy with that.” Said Douglas.

In the men’s field, it was brothers Tasman and Russell Nankervis setting the pace from the get go, with Adrian Jackson working them back to take second behind Tasman.

“I’m absolutely stoked! I came in confident as we’ve been working on form recently. The race paned-out perfectly with Rus and I over two-thirds of the race.” Said Tasman Nankervis.

“Rus and I didn’t plan it this morning, but I set the first tempo, and Rus came across so I said ‘let’s do it’!”

Photo: Richie Tyler

Jackson had his work cut out for him, but was spotted flying at the 64km mark feed zone having brought the time gap down to just 15 seconds heading into the final loop of the course.

“I think second was the best I could hope for today; Tasman was always going to win this, he’s a freak on the bike; I was just really happy to get one over his brother Rus!” said Jackson.

“The two brothers had me on the ropes early on; then through Yaugher I was able to peg them back on the single track and had them in sight.

“The single track was in premium condition; a really fast track.” added Jackson.

The 50km Otway Shorty event saw some exciting racing with Jack Lamshed finishing first ahead of Riley Flaherty and James Goodall; plus a flying e-bike rider hot on Lamshed’s wheel the entire way.

“The first climb was pretty painful; I got away on my own through the trail network being chase by my e-fairy!” said Lamshed.

Mother of three young children, including a 3-month old, Kim Willocks was the clear winner in the women’s 50km race finishing ahead of former triathlete Belinda Hadden, and third place Gemma DeCampo.

“That was much longer and harder than expected, I should have looked at the course profile!” laughs Willocks. “But I had no offs, so that was the main aim.”

Over 200 riders took on the 30km Odyssey Rookie designed specifically for novice mountain bikers and developing juniors. First across the line was youngster Lachlan Huf in the men’s, and first female was veteran Tania Dufty.

The day rounded out in the afternoon with a kids’ focussed Grommets Ride. Fifty kids aged between 3 and 8 took part in an obstacle race, bike limbo and other fun bike activities.

For 11 years riders have travelled from across Australia to the Otway Odyssey to take on the region’s iconic single track, with race organisers Rapid Ascent rapt with the events’ long-standing success.

“With over 1,000 riders participating every year, the event has had a huge following right from the get go. It certainly cements its’ reputation as being one of the toughest and most respected mountain bike events in Australia.” Said Sam Maffett, General Manager, Rapid Ascent.

Riders back up for the Great Otway Gravel Grind

Peta Mullens and Tasman Nankervis have taken top honours to make history as the inaugural champions of the Great Otway Gravel Grind held as part of the Otway Odyssey in Forrest today. Their victories are made more impressive by the fact they won the 100km Otway Odyssey mountain bike marathon also held at Forrest the day before.

Over 300 riders participated in the Great Otway Gravel Grind (The GOGG) which led cyclists along a scenic and at times challenging ride on the dirt roads that wind through the Otway Ranges, with 97km and 49km courses available.

Tasman Nankervis from Bendigo won the 97km GOGG Big Ring in a time of 3hr2min54sec beating Ryan Standish into 2nd in a time of 3hr3min24sec and his older brother Russel Nankervis who placed 3rd in a time of 3hr3min24sec.

“Today was a complete different race to yesterday. I’ve never done a race with time-out sections like that so it took a bit of tactical work to figure out what I was going to do to win, but I got to ride with Russel and Ryan for most of the day, we got to see the beach… it has been a great weekend” summarised Nankervis after his victory.

Peta Mullens also rode a very strong race to win in a time of 3hr22min47sec ahead of Helen Shelley in 3hr53min43sec with Harriet Smith finishing 3rd in a time of 3hr56min48sec. 

“Legs felt surprising good today, I worked hard from the start to the first water station and then I settled in with a good group and could enjoy the rest of it,” commented Mullens. “It was a really good course that gave us a real journey through the forest. The first 30km was really tough. It’s been a nice double-header weekend. I’ll be back.”

The response from all riders in the inaugural GOGG has been very positive with everyone commenting on how nice it was to ride on smooth dirt roads through the magnificent Otway forests.

The 97km course took riders from Forrest over the Otway Ranges, down to Kennett River and then along the Great Ocean Road to Wye River, before riding back over the Range and into Forrest for a flying finish. As an interesting twist, riders enjoyed a ‘time-out’ between Kennett River and Wye River that allowed them to stop for a coffee or to wait for their friends without impacting their race time.

The time out was a strategically important factor in the race if you were racing to win as it may have meant that the rider beside you was not necessarily on the same time as you if you stopped at the different time out zones for different time. Nankervis took this into account with his race and went hard to the first time-out so he had a time gap over his rivals and then rode with them rest of the way knowing he was already ahead.

By winning both the 100km mountain bike marathon on Saturday and the gravel grind on Sunday Nankervis and Mullens have been crowned the King and Queen of the Otways as they had the lowest cumulative time across both events, which is a remarkable achievement.

In the shorter 49km GOGG race it was Jody Zerbst who took the outright male victory in a time of 1hr51min and Caitlin Wade who was the fastest female around the shorter event in a time of 2hr5min23sec.

“We are very pleased with how the GOGG has gone today. All the riders have really been amazed by the scenery and the quality of the riding on these magnificent dirt roads,” commented Event Manager Sam Maffett from Rapid Ascent who organised the weekend’s events.

“The terrain around Forrest is perfect for riding dirt, and we wanted to offer a race for riders to get away from the busy bitumen onto the extensive network of 2WD and 4WD roads in the Otway Ranges.”

The Great Otway Gravel Grind will further expand the Otway Odyssey’s reputation as one of the Australia’s greatest off-road races with over 1,250 riders participating across the whole weekend with events that have included 100k, 50k, 30k and 10k mountain bike races, the two gravel grind events and a fun event for little kids on bikes.

“The GOGG has made this iconic weekend even more inclusive by welcoming road and gravel riders to this formerly mountain bike only event. And now we can official say Forrest is home to a world-class gravel grind race as well.”

OVERALL RESULTS

Otway Odyssey 100km

Top 5 Male

1.       Tasman Nankervis                4:20:28

2.       Adrian Jackson                     4:22:58

3.       Russell Nankervis                 4:25:50

4.       Rohin Adams                         4:40:15

5.       Daniel Taylor                         4:42:09

Top 5 Female

1.       Peta Mullens         5:21:25

2.       Renata Bucher      5:34:24

3.       Jess Douglas          5:34:47

4.       Melissa Anset       5:36:56

5.       Edwina Hughes     5:38:36

Otway Shorty 50km

Top 3 Male

1.       Jack Lamshed        2:15:26

2.       Riley Flaherty        2:18:11

3.       James Goodall       2:21:29

Top 3 Female

1.       Kim Willocks         2:56:13

2.       Belinda Hadden    3:03:24

3.       Gemma DeCampo 3:05:38

Otway Rookie 30km

Top 3 Male

1.       Lachlan Huf           1:27:28

2.       Joel Boucher         1:28:01

3.       Chris Pearce         1:35:30

Top 3 Female

1.       Tania Dufty            1:54:09

2.       Fiona Mathews     1:54:52

3.       Laura White          1:56:34

Great Otway Gravel Grind 97km

Top 5 Male

1.       Tasman Nankervis 3:02.54

2.       Ryan Standish 3:03.24

3.       Russell Nankervis 3:03.32

Top 5 Female

1.       Peta Mullens 3:22.47

2.       Helen Shelley 3:53.43

3.       Harriet Smith 3:56.48

Great Otway Gravel Grind 49km

Top 3 Male

4.       Jody Zerbst 1:51

5.       Nick Grosso 1:53.28

6.       Shane Flint 1:54.46

Top 3 Female

1.       Caitlin Wade 2:05.23

2.       Leonie Viterbo 2:07.19

3.       Belinda Hadden 2:14.22