Reef to Reef 2022 Day 1 - Smithfield Singletrack

Photos: Tim Bardsley-Smith

Reef to Reef is the youngest race in the Oceania Epic Series, the third addition in Australia after the OG Cape to Cape and Port to Port in NSW. Having started in 2018, the race had a great start for two years but has been on the sideline for 2020 and 2021.

It's back for 2022, and there are riders from around Australia and even overseas here in the tropical north of Queensland. The 4-day mountain bike races starts at Smithfield MTB Park, and today all riders tackled just under 20km of trails in a time trial format.

Riders were sent off at 20 second intervals, which seemed kind of close for a course that had so much singletrack… but time would tell!

In the open men's race, Brendan Johnston and Jon Odams went off first, as the winners from 2019. Right on their tail was Tas Nankervis and Alex Lack, who reeled them in at the top of the main climb. Dropping in with a little bit of pressure, Jon Odams tore a sidewall, and

"We just had to hammer it home as fast as we could," Nankervis said at the finish, and he explained much of their success was due to working well together. "We had good communication. I lead a lot of the singletrack and would just scream out if there was a tight corner or rock or drop."

In the open women's race Karen Hill and Anna Beck won the stage ahead of the Willow Lane Ski Team. 

Open Mixed was a pretty spicey race, with Mitch Docker and Holly Harris off first, with in-form (and newly crowned XCM National Champion) Em Viotto and Karl Michelin-Beard hot on their heels. Then it was Peta Mullens and Jarrod Moroni, then myself and Imogen Smith, followed by Ella Bloor and Tim Webster. This would be exciting!

"Jarrod and I broke up 3 times out there, but got back together as we finished on a really cool descent back into Smithfield' laughed Mullens after finishing 3rd on the stage. "I haven't raced Reef to Reef before and I'm excited to do the trails here. I've got good memories from having the World Championships here – probably not the same form but the same excitement."

Em Viotto had a small crash on a descent, but that didn't seem to make too much of a difference as she and Karl won the category – while also finishing 7th overall!

"It was good fun out there, but a bit drier than what I'm use to. I've been riding in the wet a lot laterly but it was still good fun! That descent is a lot of fun," Em Viotto said at the finish. "It's a real test of conditions here. You have to push it on the climbs and there's no rest on the descents."

Full results for all categories are online.

Today really was a good vibes only day. While you could easily expect a bit of agro on the trails due to potential limits on passing, it just didn't happen. Maybe it's the holiday atmosphere of Cairns and surrounds, maybe everyone is happy to be getting back to major events after some tops and starts and weather-based cancellations. Maybe it was the trails – but either way, the event village was full of smiles and back slapping.

If you were to judge an event by how the first stage got things started, then Reef to Reef looks to be a cracker for this year.

Tomorrow we scale the range (not by bike) into the Dry Tropics to Davies Creek. This stage is wholly different to today's stage, with a lot of big sweeping corners in sparse forest, dodging grass trees and termite mounds. There's just under 40km to tackle, with 800m of climbing. Half of it is on singletrack and we'll have a bunch start tomorrow, so there will be a few race faces on the line.

With Odams and Johnston 8 minutes back in 5th place, will we see them attacking the race from the gun, or biding their time? And can Mitch Docker and Holly Harris chip away at the lead of Em and Karl – or will it be Peta Mullens and Jarrod using their wiley experience to take a stage win? There's a lot to play for in all categories, and this race has so much variety in the terrain that there's a chance for every rider's strengths to come to the fore.

Is there a serious hunger burning in there?