CYCLING
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TOMORROW’S round of the Evocities Series will feature some of the best mountain bikers in Australia, but Bathurst Mountain Bike Club president Glen Porter is hoping riders at other end of the spectrum will be well represented as well.
Bathurst’s round of the series – Winter’s Edge XC – will be headed by five-time World Champion 24 Hour solo champion Jason English. The field will also include others with international experience like Ed McDonald and Shaun Lewis.
However, with a junior race being staged at the Bathurst track today as well and a teams event when the main riding is staged tomorrow, Porter is hopeful that the sport can win some new admirers.
“We really want to emphasise that aspect of the event,” he said.
“The push for us is all about participation and just getting on the course and having a go.
“There is a junior relay race that runs for two hours on day one and we’re encouraging anyone who wants to get involved to come and enter.
“Tomorrow even if people don’t want to ride, it will be a great spectator event, so it would be fantastic to see as many people as possible come up for a look.”
So far in the two rounds of the Fairfax Media sponsored event, English has dominated with a pair of wins while McDonald has been the runner-up on both occasions.
Andrew Lloyd and Callum McNamara have each taken a podium during those two opening legs.
The one downside of the series staging its third round this weekend is that it clashes with another major NSW mountain bike race.
The Port To Port stage event, which runs over four days, is being held in Newcastle and has attracted a lot of big name riders itself, including Bathurst’s Laura Renshaw.
“Because if that, numbers are a little bit down on what they would have been otherwise but that’s okay. We still have a lot of great riders and probably 10 to 15 who I think will be in the 10-lap category or close to it,” Porter explained.
“There is a pretty big purse available to the competitors, for someone like Jason English if he can win each round and the series overall, he will take home something like $25,000, which is huge for a mountain biker.
“He is an amazing athlete, he rides from Port Macquarie down to Newcastle, rides an eight hour race and then rides home which is just freakish.
“Locally, Dan Watson is the pick of the riders for the solo event while the two Corcoran boys [Josh and Paddy] were teaming up with Craig Hutton last time I heard and they will be a very formidable team.”
Bathurst will host both a solo four-hour and a teams six-hour event tomorrow with entrants racing over a 10 kilometre track.
Riders can register for the senior events up until 6.30pm today.