Ed McDonald takes the reign at Rocky Trail's Crowne Plaza 100-Miler

Media Release / 07.03.2011

Ahead of James Lamb from Gosford and the singlespeed legend Brett Bellchambers, also from the Capital City, Ed crossed the finish line after just over eight hours, with almost half an hour to spare until the cut off time set by organisers.

Dylan Cooper took out the 80km challenge in the Male Open category. The TREK Australia racer, who just returned to his hometown of Canberra beat the Rockstar Racing team riders Shaun Lewis and Craig Gordon.

“This was the best course ever set out at Stromlo!”, said a beaming Ed McDonald at the finish line. After the gruelling climb to the top of the Stromlo Observatory, the 16.8km endurance circuit rewarded riders with breathtakingly fast singletrails and gentle firetrail sections before hitting freshly restored berms and flowy descents.

Organisers Rocky Trail Entertainment had summoned mountain bikers to Stromlo Forest Park for an event that saw a wide range of riders hit the World Cup-level trails. Two different race tracks had been set out – a long endurance race circuit for 100-miler, 80km and 50km challenges, as well as a short cross country track for 30 and 10km riders. The latter saw a lot of junior and rookie racers take on their personal challenges and their achievements were just as recognised by organisers as the ones of the endurance racers, with certificates, trophies and prizes and big cheers on the podium.

Crowne Plaza 100-miler titles stay in Canberra

Fourteen riders lined up at the start of the Crowne Plaza 100-Miler challenge at the MTB Cruise at 8am – seven of which would later have their names added to the list of elite riders who beat the challenge of riding 100 miles at Stromlo.

Of three racers in the master (40+) category, Luis Severino from Holder (ACT) claimed the title as the only one of his category to finish the 9 laps to be completed. After finishing the 100-miler last year as the only female contestant, Bec Parkes from Kingston (ACT) was the only one to face the challenge again, however, this year stopped racing after 5 laps and more than 80km.

Of the ten elite male open racers, six crossed the finish line with 9 laps under their belt. Last year’s male open winner Brett Bellchambers came in third this year, again on a singlespeed bike. He praised his fellow contestants and Ed McDonald in particular and said that this was a racer that had set his mark on the Australian MTB and singlespeed racing scene and was going to be “one to watch out for this year”.

Second in the Crowne Plaza 100-miler epic was James Lamb from Gosford and the Crocodile Trophy endurance racer credited his good form to his achievement of riding for 1200km over 10 days late last year. Said Lamb with a cheeky grin at the finish line, “I can’t believe I actually achieved two of my racing goals at one event: riding more laps on the same track than Gordo and beating Brett Bellchambers!”