The 2022 Season Opener of the Shimano MTB Grand Prix Series took place at Canberra’s Stromlo Forest Park. Solo competitors and pairs teams raced for 4 hours and a placing across age categories for adults and juniors and in the four newly introduced General Classification (GC).
Rocky Trail’s Martin Wisata said that this Season would transform the 4+6 Hour events from previous years into the most expansive 4-Hour XC Series in the country.
“We are taking a more focused approach to our XC lap racing events, which will challenge the pros and rewards the personal bests of ambitious and passionate Rocky Trail racer”, he said and added that as with all disciplines of riding, cross-country racing has changed, and that the promoter was aligning with those changes. He explained that the Olympics saw much shorter, punchier short course and marathon had trended toward faster courses as well.
“We want to shine more of a spotlight on people that do this 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.
Jackpot for Jon Odams, GC and QOM for Gwynn McLeod
Sydney’s Jon Odams is a high-achiever among the endurance racing mountain biking scene and he took it all: GC Solo male, King of the Mountain (KOM), fastest lap time (25min38) for the Sprint title as well as the outright line-honours win for fastest man on the hill at Stromlo Forest Park.
He raced ahead from the start gun and right away had a lead of over 50 seconds on his chasers after 1 lap. This gave him a lot of confidence and he kept it up for four hours, completing 9 laps in 4h05:54 with a gap of 12min18 to second solo finisher Owen Gordon and Trent Pons (4h18:11).
Odams said that early lead made very comfortable on the techy course,
“After I was out of sight I felt a lot more comfortable. Because of my enduro [gravity] background, having the line choice and not someone following me, I feel like gives me a bit of an advantage”, Odams said and that he had approached the KOM classification very strategically. He explained that because of the challenging terrain on the Blackberry Climb section that had been selected as the KOM/QOM point, he had tried to push for a good time early in the race, when traffic was lower.
In the women’s Gwynn McLeod surprised herself winning the yellow GC plate and QOM plate. The ultra-endurance racer said that she trained for 24 hour and stage racing events this year.
“I’ll squeeze as many Rocky Trail races in as I can, but I reckon 4 hours hurt me more than the 6 hours in previous years, you’re just going so much harder”, she said of her race, finishing 7 laps in 4h07:51. In second was Michelle Newstead (+16min55) ahead of Clare Menzies in third (+ 1 lap).
Sprint classifications
In the women’s, Joan Kuhrmann clocked in the fastest lap time with 32min54 on an acoustic bike.
In the newly introduced Junior Sprint classification (acoustic bikes), Claire Brooker came in first in the women’s with 40min48. In the junior U18 men’s, Oliver Ludlam took the title with 27min34. Notably, Oliver placed sixths in the solos outright with 8 laps in 4h02:29, right behind brother Thomas Ludlam in fifth.
The race also offered solo eBike classifications for male and females.
Pairs racing
In the female pairs Donna Scott and Alison Corcoran finished with 6 laps in 4h12:20. With 23 male pairs at the start, locals Jarrad Davis and Jack McFarlane clocked in the mx of 9 laps in 4h13:56. Very popular also the mixed pairs with 11 teams – Central Coast’s Charlie and Max Richardson took the win with 8 laps.
The next series event will be at Awaba MTB Park near Newcastle on 23 April and the QLD Series starts at Logan’s Daisy Hill in QLD in May. 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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