The second race of the Shimano MTB Grand Prix Series took place at the Deep Creek Dam Loop in Mogo on the NSW South Coast. Despite most of the NSW Coast line battered with rain, a strong crowd of solo competitors and pairs teams raced for 4 hours under blue skies and in warm autumn conditions. Racers competed for placings across age categories for adults and juniors and in four major General Classification (GC).
The Mogo event had an impressive line-up of fast nationally and internationally acclaimed mountain bikers – and a number of road racers too, who took on the Deep Creek Dam Loop.
“We want to shine more of a spotlight on people that do the cross-sport well, as its equally important as descending a million miles a hour”, Wisata said.
In 2022, each Shimano MTB GP race will offer the popular age group podium race plates, which award custom-race numbers as trophies to riders, which are reserved for them for the entire season. These race plates are accolades of their podium achievement and – already prepped with live timing chips – can be used for future races with Rocky Trail this year.
The events also award additional official GC winners race plates, which is a set of special additional classifications for male and female winners: KOM/QOM with a polka dot race plate, Junior Sprint Winner (male/female U18 fastest lap time) in white, Best Sprinter for the fastest adult lap time in green and a Solo GC Winner plate in yellow for outright solo winners.
GC overall and Sprint Titles for Brendan Johnston and Gwynn McLeod
For the start, the race organisers lined up the competitors on the Deep Creek Dam wall and Canberra’s Reece Tucknott and former junior Marathon (XCM) National Champ attacked the entire field from the get go with an impressive sprint. Tucknott charged into the singletrack and took the King of the Mountain climbing title with 2:02 only one second ahead of Johnston and Ben Hill.
His chasers included multiple MTB National Marathon Champion Brendan Johnston, professional road racer Ben Hill, Ed Hall, Ben Allen, Morgan Fitzgerald and the U18 Ludlam brothers. Hot in pursuit also the female line-up with ultra-endurance racer Gwynn McLeoad and Em Viotto from Canberra as well as Kellie Finlay and junior racers including Amelie Burrell.
Throughout the first lap, then, the chase group caught up to Tucknott and Johnston took the lead, which he extended to over 2 minutes as he crossed the finish line after lap 1 already. He would keep and extend that lead for the race. Johnston claimed the outright win with 11 laps in 4:09:22. Tucknott came in second on 10 laps in 4:03:33 ahead of Ben Allen (+6:22min).
Em Viotto is the Queen of the Mountain at Mogo with the fastest time on the climbing classification of 2:39min. Right towards the end of lap 1 Viotto stopped to support an injured rider until the medical team arrived. Completing three laps, Viotto then retired from the race early due to lingering fatigue from a recent Covid-19 infection.
Gwynn McLeod raced a consistent race in the mean time, clocking in the fastest sprint time with a lap time of 29:48min and the outright female solo win with 8 laps in 4:09:59. The ultra-endurance and acclaimed 24 Hour racer is an old-hand among the Rocky Trail racing field and competes in these short 4 hour events to train and to travel to and race on the versatile courses offered as part of the series she said. “I just love this course in Mogo”, Gwynn stated as she crossed the line. “There are so many fun sections and rewarding descents”, she added and that she was looking forward to seeing what the new Mogo Trails development would bring in the coming months.
Brendan Johnston grew up in the Eurobodalla region and said that he knew the trails at Deep Creek Dam well from when he was a junior – and working at the local botanic garden right next to the trail network. He said that he had enjoyed racing with his XCM peers at Mogo and that he had tried to pace himself during the 4 hours, which not only resulted in the fastest lap time of the day with 21:15min but also the outright line honours in the race.
In the juniors, Thomas Ludlam claimed the junior sprint in 23:29min and Amelie was the fastest female sprint junior with a lap time 28:14min. The race also offered solo eBike classifications for male and females.
Pairs racing
The overall winners in the teams classification in Mogo are Jarrad Davis and Levi Johns with 10 laps in 4:13:11, taking the fourth place outright.
The next series event will be at Awaba MTB Park near Newcastle on 11 June and the QLD Series starts at Logan’s Daisy Hill in QLD. The VIC Series will be held in the second half of the year.
Race photos:
Photos from the race are now online on the Outer Image Collective portal! Remember, they are included in your entry, so download them now!
Use #rockytrailracer and #shimanomtbgp so we can follow your race stories!
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RESULTS
Check out detailed results via the link below – don’t forget to download your results and podium certificate! Simply click on your name to see all race times and then select it to download (via the pop-up window).
Detailed results are available via
Please note the secondary menu on the results page, which lets you search for a name, favourite a name/team and also filter results by certain variables like gender, age or classification.
2022 SERIES
For all 2022 venues, dates & event information visit
https://rockytrailentertainment.com/home/calendar-of-events/
Media photos:
Photos may be used for free with image credits “Photo: Rocky Trail/OuterImage.com.au” for coverage of Rocky Trail events only. For more information, interview opportunities or high-res images for news coverage, please contact our Marketing Director Juliane Wisata on 0416 737 972 or via email juliane@rockytrailentertainment.com
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