Bathurst’s Nick Zawadski came home third overall in Sunday’s Mount Panorama Punish but he could lay claim to being the King of the Mountain after reaching the McPhillamy Park peak in first place.

But only narrowly.

Eventual race winner Lachlan Oakes put in a burst to try and land the prize but Zawadski wasn’t letting that happen.

“He ended up sprinting there towards the top of the Mount but I put in a sprint of my own to get there,” he said.

“He overtook me on The Esses but it was a fantastic run, especially towards the finish.”

Oakes flew away from the field but Zawadski found himself in a heated three-way battle with Patrick McNamara and Dani Andres for the runner-up spot at the finish line.

McNamara got the better of Zawadski by only a second.

The bronze was made all the more impressive for Zawadski due to his short turnaround between the previous weekend’s Carcoar Cup marathon.

“It was a great result considering I’d had that race and just the one training run before this,” Zawadski said.

“It was incredibly unexpected to catch everyone that was going up the hill.

“I’m stoked about third. I came fifth last year so it’s a nice improvement.” 

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