Trek Racing Australia wash out the AMB100
This was the third year that Australian Mountain Bike magazine has sponsored the marathon race at Mt Stromlo from Rocky Trail Entertainment.
This was the third year that Australian Mountain Bike magazine has sponsored the marathon race at Mt Stromlo from Rocky Trail Entertainment. The AMB100 is not an event to be taken lightly. Despite offerings of one or two laps (or even 5 for the masochistic 100 mile racers), the title ‘100km’ or thereabouts main event is not one to be dealt with lightly. The race has more hard singletrack than almost any other marathon event in Australia, and Mt Stromlo is known to be hotter than most places in Canberra, when the sun gets cranking.
But Mt Stromlo has some of the best amenities on site for an Australian mountain bike race, thanks to the real toilets and showers at Stromlo Forest Park. It’s also within Canberra, thanks to urban sprawl, and is easy to get to for many mountain bikers.
Mid February is a busy time for competitive mountain bikers. The AMB100 was on the same weekend as the Snowies MTB Festival, plus the Bright Enduro. Plenty of the riders who would normally challenge in the 100 miler race are winding down before the WEMBO 24hr title race in Rotorua next weekend. Mountain bikers have been spread far and wide!
Racing today kicked off at 5am, with the 100 mile racers heading out under lights (their own of course) set to tackle 5 laps of a sinuous course set by Martin Wisata. With the course running exactly the same as last year, that made for a 26km lap. It’s unlikely any racers will be asking for the extra 7km per lap. Callum McNamara set an early (no pun intended) lead, and then negative split his second lap, and almost did the same again on his third! Rohan Geddes was a little more conservative behind but was never a threat to McNamara, even when he was slowing towards the end. McNamara was visibly shaking at the finish from the effort, but held it together for the win in about 7 and a half hours, with Geddes in 2nd at about 8hrs. Robin Mule won Masters and took 3rd overall in about 8:20 – that’s pretty handy.
AMB100: The title fight
Given the race name, the ‘100k’ race draws some attention – and so it should with National XCM Champion and Olympic hopeful Brendan Johnston lining up. From the gun it was Johnston’s team mate Dylan Cooper who hit the after burners from the mass start of 100 and 66km racers, with the two breaking away early. While many thought Cooper was in the 100km event, he’d dropped to the 66km the previous day due to a lingering illness. It didn’t seem to slow his pace.
The two Trek Racing Australia riders forged ahead, and in typical fashion at this race, after the first lap, the gaps really began to grow. If eve there is a race to punish poor hydration, it’s the AMB100. Or just about any long race at Mt Stromlo to be honest. No one matched the pace of the two at the front, and it was Brad Morton, Jarrod Hughes, James Downing, Kane Macri, Marc Williams, Matt McAuliffe and Greg Saw who were crossing the line after the Trek duo.
While Johnston stormed away for a third lap,. Dylan Cooper crossed the line victorious in the 66km race, with Jarrod Hughes about 9 minutes behind and Marc Williams another 5 minutes back. Brad Morton won the Masters 66km and would have taken 2nd in elite.
After a stomping 3:41 Johnston was done for the day, with Andrew Lloyd crossing an equal 15 minutes behind. Downing was 3rd, Macri 4th and 2014 Croc Trophy winner Greg Saw in 5th.
The Elite women’s race focused on the 66km, and despite a double flat Eliza Kwan had a convincing win ahead of Joanne Tralaggan. Catherine Moore was the only elite woman to finish the full 100k category, in 6:29.
In the 33km event, Trek Racing Australia young gun Charlie Brodie won the men’s event, and Ruby Wilson took the women’s win.
Full results for all races and categories are online.
Super Stromlo
Racing at Mt Stromlo is a little bit of an advantage to some, especially those based in Canberra. Dylan Cooper admitted that while he doesn’t always train at Stromlo, he’s done enough time there to be comfortable, especially on the dry trails.
“I’ve ridden here for a long time, whenever you get out here it’s that skatey sandy stuff. So you switch into that mode and I enjoyed it.”
Cooper is well-known to be one of the smoothest riders at Stromlo, and lays claim to plenty of Strava KOMs on the mountain, so it’s no surprise to hear how the racing with Brendan ‘Trekky’ Johnston played out off the front.
“I dropped him on the descents, he caught me on the climbs, we did that over and over and it ended up evening out.”
Catching up with a remarkably fresh looking Johnston, I had to quiz him about how a marathon fitted in to his current XCO focus.
“The focus is definitely on the Olympic distance XC, and we have moved to near Stromlo, so I thought why not, it would be rude to not come out here. It was a good day out – pretty tough but a really good days training.”
“The trails were really good, the guys have done a heap of track work out on Pork Barrel which has made it really smooth but it’s pretty dusty out there now. It’s almost a little more dangerous as you can pick up quite a bit of speed – but it’s good fun!”
There has always been plenty of races at Mt Stromlo, but with Capital Punishment finishing, and the Scott 24hr shrinking – there’s a bit less. Kwan pointed out that Majura is also an excellent venue, and doesn’t think less racing at Stromlo is bad at all.
“I like the variety of switching between Majura and here, so I think it’s a good thing!” stated Kwan.
As is the case at many events, some riders found it all too much and didn’t finish. Some walked their bikes in with mechanicals, and others crossed the line looking absolutely finished – but a smile crept in eventually.
Thanks again to Rocky Trail Entertainment for putting on another great event – they have plenty each year so don’t miss any of them – go check out their calendar.
