Silva Duo, You Yangs
Star Orienteering couple lead the way
Dion Keech - DuO Series Director - www.silvaduo.com / 26.03.2009
Over 70 competitors turned out to tackle the second race of the 2009 SILVA DuO Adventure Race series in wet & wild conditions in the plantation Eucalypt forests of the You Yangs Park. The SILVA DuO format consists of 3 legs- Orienteering by foot (6km), then MTB (18km), then back on foot (3km) again. Whilst the run legs were relatively flat and the terrain quite open, the windy mountain bike single-tracks proved a challenge in the wet conditions. The race got under way at 9am just minutes before the onset of rain that persisted for the duration of the event.
At the first transition there wasn’t much separating the top 5 on the long course with Bryan Keely leading the way. Kathryn Ewels was in the mix, already way out in front on the women’s long course. Winner of the Macedon DuO, Jim Russell, was also in the leading group through the first transition, pushing hard for a series clean sweep.
The bike leg proved decisive on the long course, with Rob Preston emerging well out in front at the second transition. He maintained his lead through the final run leg to finish 4 minutes ahead of Hayden Lebbink in 2nd place in a time of 1hr 34min. Hayden turned the tables on the Du-O race 1, beating Jim Russell by a further 4 minutes.
Kathryn Ewels was in a class of her own in the women’s long course, completing the course in 1hr 51min. Carolyn Jackson, winner of the women’s course at Du-O Race 1 came in second place.
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