The first race of the long weekend festival - a 50km cross country taking in the now-revered Stonefly singletrack - hosted  some super quick times, the stand out being Adrian Jackson who led from start to finish, establishing a ten minute overall time gap going into Stage 2 with a time of 2:38:27.

 

By the 25km mark, Jackson, a world mountain bike orienteering champion, had pulled out a four-minute buffer over eventual second placegetter, U/23 hotshot Robbie Hucker. He then stretched that to five minutes at the 40km turnover with Robbie slowing further over the final ten kilometres to give Jackson a defiant, but not unassailable lead going into tomorrow’s Stage Two 5-hour Brakeburner Enduro.

 

“I managed to drop the other riders in first kay,” said Jackson, whose recent results include a 3rd at the Kona Odyssey, 4th at Wildside and 7th at the recent National XC Championships. “I actually thought they were toying around and would come back at me, but I was pretty happy to not see them again, so I just tried to maintain my pace and enjoy the ride.” Hucker, who came second in last month’s Kona Odyssey 50km Shorty, had his work cut out for him from the beginning, having only arrived at Mt Buller after midnight after competing in a road cycling criterion yesterday afternoon in Bendigo before travelling to Buller for the festival hit out.

 

It wasn’t all easy riding for Jackson, however, the Team Merida Flightcentre rider crossing the line visibly winded after coming a cropper as he rode one handed into the chairlift transition late in the race. “I was trying to save time by getting my lift ticket out while still riding. I hit bump and came off – just a scratch though.”

 

Noting the regard in which Stonefly trail is held, Jackson said when interviewed at the finish:”It’s great. I enjoyed the climb almost as much as the descent I think!”

 

Unfortunately for Jackson, tomorrow’s Stage Two 5-hour Brakeburner Enduro is as much about the downhill as the up, and he knows he has some stiff competition in today’s fourth placed Josh Carlson, a noted Super-D fiend. 

 

“Josh is a really good descender so my aim is to just try to keep up or at least minimise my time loss,” said Jackson. "Carlson had an enduring battle for third place today with inaugural Bike Buller winner, Murray Spink. The former had the early jump, passing through the 25km checkpoint ahead of Carlson. Somewhere out towards The Razorback cattleman’s huts, Spink stole a place, holding out Carlson by just under two minutes by the time the Village Square came into view. 

 

In the women’s the expected stoush between World Adventure Racing Champion, Frenchwoman Myriam Guillot and World 24 Hour Solo Champion, Jess Douglas did not materialise, the latter struggling to find form today leaving Guillot to an easy five minute win over second place, Melissa Anset, with Douglas sixteen and a half minutes off pace.