Cats, Dogs and Diehards

GNCC Round 1 Matata

maddix park mx

Sustained heavy rain -70-100mm with peak rates of 15mm/h expected- said the forecast and the forecast was right.  It rained cats and dogs and the 118 diehards who fronted up on the start lines for the first round of the GNCC held at Matata on Saturday all deserve a medal.

But the weirdest thing is, they all seemed to love it !

The day before, the tracks on Burt’s Farm had been ploughed to perfection and were smooth like a race track but the rain turned them to mush and big ruts to the extent that some thought it was a totally different venue.

“It was a great day having fun in the mud” claims Reuben Steens, winner of the Clubmans 14-20 class, pictured above in all his muddy glory. “It wasn’t a bad turnout, view the weather,” he adds. “The track was changed several times so nearly every lap was different which made it pretty interesting.”

“Surely it can’t be that bad” thought Janelle Walker (Tauranga) prior to the event, but began to regret it as soon as the race started. “We were one of the last groups off the line” she says, “so had ruts, ruts, ruts, right from the beginning.  Ruts on hills I can understand, but how does a rut get on a flat piece of land? Mid pack also meant being majorly roosted on a regular basis. I have never, ever been so muddy. The mud was everywhere, clothes, hair, inside the helmet and I’m still blowing it out my nose. The race was more about survival than winning. A couple of us girls hung together and helped each other out. The race was shortened to 1.5 hours but we still ended up doing 2.5 by the time we got back!”  

But don’t think for a minute that Janelle is all negative.  On the contrary. “I’m really glad I did it and finished,” she adds. “I learnt heaps and I’m all the better for it.  Facing a challenge is the only way to improve. This GNCC made the recent 6 Hour event seem easy, so I must be getting better”. Janelle came second behind her 6 Hour teammate Shannon Pepper in the Senior Ladies 21-34 class.

Tim Salter (Tauranga) is one of the “weird” ones who hoped it would be “muddy as”. He loved the conditions as only those who have the physical strength and who are good in them can do.  Tim was 4th in the Clubman 21-34 class which was won by Colin Box (Ohaupo).

The Sheely Family (Tauranga) had five members battling the elements. Dad, Mike, won the Experts 35 + class ahead of Andrew Schuit  (Whakatane) 2nd, Craig Spence (Whakatane) 3rd and Mark De Latour (Taupo) 4th.

“It was pretty extreme,” says Mike, “but I like mud and ruts and can usually manage the hills in 3rd gear.  In the bush section it was wet, but when you came across the ridge onto the grass, you were nearly blown off the bike as well.  Anyone airborne would get taken sideways. The pouring rain meant heaps of riders got stuck right from the first lap and, when the river came up, a lot went round it. My first lap was a short one.  There was confusion between the junior and the senior loops and I took the wrong option so incurred a time penalty. In the second lap I incurred another penalty, a “natural penalty” this time. Because of the conditions, the organizers short-cutted the track after the leader went through so our little group, who were just in front of the leader, had to do the long loop again! The pumicy mud was pretty abrasive and did its best to cut the brake pads down to steel, Drisana got stuck in a rut so only got one lap in, but on the whole, the whole family all had an enjoyable day.”

Mum, Shirley, was 4th in the Rookie ladies 35+, Dion Sheely was 4th in the Expert 14-20, Drisana was 2nd in the Senior Ladies 14-20 and Aden was 4th in the Rookies 14-20 class.

Another family, the Greys from Cambridge, had a successful podium day and absolutely loved the event. Mum Deirdre came first in the Rookie Ladies 35+ class. Son Ashton came home first overall in the Junior section, a good 10 minutes in front of 2nd, and 1st in the Youth 12-13 Years. Taylor Grey was 3rd in the Clubmans 14-20 Years, pretty good for a 14 year old, and father Tony was 3rd in the Clubman 35-44 class. He had a bit of a fall but was particularly gutted to finish several places behind  Taylor in the overall.  The inevitable has arrived.

"I like an adventure, I like a challenge and I never check the weather report beforehand" laughs Deidre who spent all day Sunday cleaning the bikes and gear and even ran the water blaster out of fuel in so doing!  "We all had a fantastic day and the kids were in their element," she continues. "I was doing well until the last hill.  I just couldn't get up it so I  missed out on a lap. It felt a bit like doing the NZ equivalent of Erzberg".

"Huge thanks to Greg Power and the team", Dierdre adds, "for doing a great job in  difficult circumstances", thanks echoed by all the hard core riders present. Greg even missed the prize-giving - he was out recuperating bikes.

Adam and Daniel Molloy (Tauranga) had a real ‘Baptism of Rain” for their first GNCC but it hasn’t in any way put them off doing the series. 10 year old Adam said it was tricky and challenging but is pleased with his 7th place in the Youth 9-11 class.  Daniel is happy with his 4th place result in the 12-13 Years. “The slippery factor was a problem” he says.

Chris Foster (Cambridge), just back from injury, came third in the Experts 14-20 Years class ahead of the Rotorua peloton of Mitchell Crawford 5th, Nathan Sharland 6th and Nik Crawford 7th while Te Puke’s Paul Ritchie was 4th in the Expert 21-34 class.

Other no lesser local riders to feature in the results include Max Wealleans (Te Puke) who finished 7th in the 12-13 Years class, Clubman riders Les Howard (Katikati), Warren Foster (Cambridge) and Ross Hawke (Tauranga) who were respectively 3rd, 4th and 7th in the 45+ age group and Sam Lowe who came 1st and Matthew Gerrard 6th in the Rookies 21-34 class.

The pure physical challenge of the race gave Paul Callinan (Tauranga) a real high, even though, for him, the round was not a successful one.  He could cope with the weather and the ruts but not with a badly screwed on radiator cap.  His overheated bike was puffing so Paul spent a lot of time in the bush waiting for it to cool down before finding a creek he could fill up from.  Like the story of the Ancient Mariner, it was water, water, all around and not a drop for his bike !

The  Pro 21-34 class saw Scott Birch (Rotorua), followed by Chris Power (Paeroa) in 2nd, Cullum Birch (Rotorua) in 3rd  and Sam Brown of Hamilton 4th . Chris lost his chance for first place when he got stuck in a hole in a gateway in the last lap and just couldn’t get out. Current GNCC champ Reece Burgess from Tauranga was 5th

"For me, it was a disaster from start to finish due to the weather," reports Reece. "Greg had a really good track but the weather destroyed it. I went the wrong way, got caught on a log trying to get back and had to rejoin the tail of the pack. The strong wind , the  nasty rain, the blocked tracks, the brakes that chewed out before the end, it was all pretty frustrating but the most frustrating part was that the rain stopped after it was all over!"

Scott Birch was the senior overall winner as well, but huge creds must go to the two Pro 14-20 riders who slotted themselves into the top 5 overall - Lance O’Dea (Opotiki) for his 2nd spot and Jonathan Hill (Auckland) for his 5th.   

The next GNCC round is on November 10th at Jensen's Farm, Te Puke. Go to Power Adventures for full details.

Full results are on the Silver Bullet website.

If you are interested, click here to see what the Matata Round of the GNCC looked like in 2011 and compare it to the footage from October 2012.

 
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