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Kooralbyn Marathon - NE
Queensland, Australia, June 4, 2006
New race record as Sydney's martin wins
By John Michael Flynn at Kooralbyn Queensland
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Sydney's Blair Martin has shaved 36 seconds off Mark Frendo's 2005 race record
and upstaged a talented field of Australia's emerging endurance mountain bikers
on his way to winning the 2006 Kooralbyn Marathon.
In a display of controlled riding and tactical nous, the ex-pat kiwi (New Zealander)
made his move at precisely the right time, stylishly riding away from all comers
on the brutal final ascent of the race - the aptly named "Wall".
On a mountain featuring gradients of up 18 per cent, Martin, in the space off five kilometres, managed to take more than five minutes out of his rivals by the time he reached the spectacular summit of the 460 metre climb.
From there it was (almost) all downhill to the finish line, where the Sydneysider waited more than ten minutes for his nearest rival, the rapidly improving Andrew Wilcher, to cross the finish line.
How it unfolded
Featuring perfect blue sky, a cool-ish Queensland winter's morning and next to no wind, conditions for racing at kooralbyn were ideal. As news slowly filtered through the elite men's division of the withdrawal of reigning champion (and hot favourite) Mark Frendo due to illness, the race was on to find contenders for the title of "Kooralbyn Marathon Champion."
Aspirants weren't slow in coming forward. From race start the pace was on, with the lead groups including Chris White & Adrian Booth (River City Cycles), Andrew Wilcher (Race Elements), Daniel Hallam (QAS), Blair Martin, Simon Frederiksen (Race Elements) and former Crocodile Trophy campaigner Andrew Wegener, among others.
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The first major move came in the second half of the race, when seasoned road campaigner Adrian Booth launched a spirited attack on the flatter profiled middle section of the course. Had Booth caught a glance of the course profile (which looked for all money like a heart attack patient's e.c.g.), the veteran stager might have thought twice.
Approaching the final two climbs of Mount Sugarloaf and the aptly named 'Wall', Booth's screams of 'get me water' provided a hint of what, inevitably was about to come.
"We just kept punching along and thought hopefully he'll blow up," Andrew Wilcher said of the move from Booth.
"Get enough time out there himself, was going to hit the wall sooner or later. He ran out of water in the end."
It was near the foot of "the wall" where Booth was finally caught by the two pursuing groups. There, Blair Martin made his move, with Hallam, White, Wilcher and the remainder of the race aspirants, unable to follow suit.
Racing on another level against older and strong riders, fifteen year old Daniel Hallam, who recently signed with the Queensland Academy of Sport program, had to dig deep to get over the final climb. The highly rated junior eventually finished fourth overall and first in the 18 - 29 year age category.
"About the 60 kilometre mark, that's when I started to fade," Hallam admitted.
"Can't really compare it to much because it's the first marathon race that I've done, just the climbs make it so mentally tough and physically draining."
Nearing the end of 85 kilometres, the fight for the minor placings turned into a hot contest. With the benefit of last year's inaugural Kooralbyn Marathon under his belt, it was Wilcher who prevailed, to claim second.
"I just managed to get rid of Daniel Hallam with about 3 kilometres to go, then saw Chris White and punched past him with about 300 metres to go," Wilcher said.
"It was hard, there was a lot of heavy lifting to be done out there and I think the secret was knowing what was to come.
"It's a long race, you don't get all the toys out of the cot in the first half out of the race, that was imperative."
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Triathlete Silvestri wins women's event
The race for overall honours in the women's marathon proved to be another see-sawing contest, with triathlete Connie Silvestri prevailing against a class field which included World Cup adventure racer Narelle Ash.
Soon to head overseas to represent Australia in the age group divisions at the World Triathlon Championships in Switzerland, Silvestri showed the endurance skills necessary to succeed by bringing it home in the final twenty kilometres of the race.
Just as in the men's event, Silvestri launched an attack on the nightmarish ascent of "the wall", which proved decisive.
"I did it last year and I found it really tough," Silvestri said.
"Towards the end, that's when I kind of got a second wind on The Wall and I caught the other girl (Naomi Hansen). it was an awesome course."
Hansen though, had nothing to be ashamed off. The Sunshine Coast mountain biker produced one of the rides of the race, shaving more than one hour off her time from 2005, to claim second place overall
"From start to finish it was an experience, I did it last year and I found it a lot easier than last year," Hansen said.
"It was just, it was a huge personal challenge. The last hill she (Silvestri) passed me and my legs were just rat-shit, then it was just maintenance on the way home.
"It's full on man."
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Mathison shows promising form
Cruising to victory in the women's division of the 65 kilometre "Lite Marathon", two time UCI Junior Cross Country Mountainbike World Champion Lisa Mathison showed her form is about where it needs to be as she sets her sights on the World Championships in Rotorua in August.
If her form prevails, Mathison will race in the under 23 division at the World's.
"It was really tough out there but I really enjoyed it," Mathison said.
"It was a fun track for a marathon track. The shorter course I think was plenty for today, I don't really feel that I was up for any more."
Mathison, whose past year has been punctuated by illness, is taking it slow and steady with her 2006 campaign, choosing to stay in Australia, rather than race internationally on the taxing World Cup circuit.
"At least my health feels 100 per cent at the moment and has for a while," Queensland's most decorated international mountain biker said at race end.
"It's hard to tell but I think it is. These next couple of months are pretty crucial, so I hope I can get it together there and build and get the speed that I need."
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by John Flynn/Cyclingnews.com
- Lisa Mathison - The two time world junior champion keeps warm before the race start
- The journey begins for 350 plus mountain bikers in the Kooralbyn Marathon
- Adrian Booth takes in much needed fluids after making his move
- Blair Martin gets into a rhythm in the mountains
- Blair Martin drops everyone on the ascent of 'The Wall'
- Chris White takes up the challenge for the River City Cycles team
- Lisa Mathison - happy to be in the place she loves .. The mountains
- Dennis Van Mill - The Port Macquarie cyclist ponders yet another nasty ascent
- Road warrior - Adrian Booth turns on The afterburners and drops everyone
- Adrian Booth pounds the pedals
- Connie Silvestri - Winner of the Open Women's division
- Darren Tims shows how it's done as the steep hills take their toll
- Blair Martin climbing yet another mountain
- John Rafter suffering it out on the way to winning his division
- Lisa Mathison just cruising
- Adrienne Dougal taking in the spectacular views
- Adrian Booth contemplating the high price of fuel as the tank runs dry
- Peter Harvey and Craig Yeoman make it to the top of one of the pinches
- Peter Creagh - The Flight Centre Team boss puts on his pain face ascending "The Wall"
- George Tamblyn turning the cranks over on a magic South East Queensland day
- Matt Forster - Not a cloud in the sky as takes on the mountainous Kooralbyn Marathon
- Steve Purcell puts the pain of an earlier crash behind him as he fights on
- The psychologist's way of tackling an ascent, looking at what's behind you
- Narelle Ash - Tough going for the World Cup adventure racer in the Kooralbyn Marathon
- Riders strung out as the gradient gets nasty
- Christian Woodcock riding in the Anaconda team colours
- Brad Poidevin tapping out the beat on a perfect day for racing
- Views forever - But little time to enjoy the scenery for Andrew Patterson
- David Crow conquering the ordinary fear of climbing
- Ivan Wilkin and Shane Isbester - Against the backdrop of Queensland's scenic rim
- Rick Whitehard rolls over a cattle grid
- Alan Kelk crosses the grid signalling the final ascent of 'The Wall'
- What mountain biking is about - Epic racing and cameraderie
- Andrew Jovaisa manages a smile amid the suffering
- Warren Prior taking his time to enjoy the views
- Karen Ward - set against one of Australia's most magnificent backdrops
- Greig Smart - almost over the top of the final ascent
- Luke Goodfellow - The basque colours strangely at home in these mountains
- Mark Prickett - where else would you spend a Sunday?
Results
Full marathon
18-29 Men 1 Daniel Hallam 3.52.36 2 Simon Frederiksen 3.55 3 Dennis Van Mill 5.49 4 Andrew Fellows 7.42 5 Peter Donnelly 13.04 6 Morgan Pilley 14.08 7 Shaun O'Brien 21.33 8 David Whitney 26.29 9 Daniel Radford 37.29 10 Patrick Hans Ryham 44.03 11 Richard Brownhill 48.23 12 Dan O'Rourke 52.42 13 Daniel Newnham 57.07 14 Darrell Edwick 57.26 15 Christopher Maycock 1.20.47 16 Andrew Jovaisa 1.20.57 17 Greg Lander 1.21.44 18 Ben Bopf 1.22.23 19 David Dolan 1.22.55 20 Duane Blake 1.29.33 21 Justin Kerr 1.32.33 22 Michael Heydon 1.33.33 23 Hayden Lester 1.35.52 24 Greig Smart 1.39.13 25 Adam Lynch 2.04.26 26 Paul Philipp 2.10.10 27 Michael Kingston 2.36.11 28 Andrew Fraser 2.43.41 18-29 Women 1 Lee Schultz 4.36.33 2 Heather Evans 13.27 3 Rebecca Myerscough 1.13.51 30-39 Men 1 Blair Martin 3.39.34 2 Andrew Wilcher 9.41 3 Christopher White 10.01 4 Andrew Wegener 14.53 5 Ian Goodwin 16.47 6 Andrew Mannings 31.28 7 Paul Adams 36.54 8 Lloyd Newell 38.20 9 Russell Davies 39.25 10 Adrian Booth 40.30 11 Matthew Christmas 12 Andrew Charles 45.20 13 Chris Cooke 46.37 14 Andy Stewart 47.19 15 Peter Winfield 51.08 16 Vaughan Caseley 51.09 17 Shaun Leggate 51.38 18 Jody Zerbst 53.32 19 Jeff Toohey 55.28 20 Trevour Pitt 1.01.52 21 Andrew Wood 1.02.50 22 Kelvin Moncrieff 1.03.22 23 Brad Poidevin 1.06.28 24 Aaron Donaldson 1.06.56 25 John Allen 1.09.05 26 Nicholas Marentis 1.09.55 27 Lee Stariha 1.12.20 28 Christian Woodcock 1.13.45 29 Jeremy McLaren 1.14.45 30 Justin Whelan 1.20.49 31 Benjamin Madden 1.20.50 32 Anthony Johnson 1.22.28 33 David Hunter 1.27.00 34 Scott Clarke 1.27.06 35 Greg Long 1.27.53 36 Michael (Mikey) Seelhofer 1.27.54 37 Stephen Cody 1.29.33 38 Shannon Duggan 1.31.13 39 Craig Blanch 1.32.10 40 Graeme Hall 1.32.32 41 Dean Dyer 1.34.04 42 Paul Hill 1.34.06 43 Brett Sweeney 1.34.56 44 Gary Grieve 1.35.48 45 James Robbie 1.36.37 46 Darren Smith 1.38.11 47 Todd Heness 1.38.15 48 Gordon Kleynhans 1.38.16 49 Chris Field 1.39.49 50 Geoff Richardson 1.40.06 51 Gavin Irving 1.47.22 52 Rick Gifford 1.47.54 53 Carlos Steenland 1.50.34 54 Ivan Wilkin 1.50.35 55 John Pinnell 1.55.39 56 Martin Comer 1.56.23 57 Alan Kelk 2.01.55 58 Richard Bartleet 2.03.03 59 Paul Kays 2.03.25 60 Jason Cheshire 2.04.31 61 Darren Tickle 2.05.31 62 Peter Humberdross 2.05.54 63 Paul Burrows 2.06.53 64 Luke Goodfellow 2.06.57 65 Mark Prickett 2.09.05 66 Mark Leng 2.09.38 67 Craig Shepperson 2.11.21 68 Greg ODea" 2.13.15 69 Stephen Mitchell 2.21.02 70 Simon Vanderduys 2.22.16 71 Richard Francis 2.23.09 72 Derek Hallam 2.25.51 73 John Bowers 2.26.16 74 Peter Christie 2.34.54 75 James Bell 2.35.24 76 John Wilson 2.37.22 77 Michael Buchanan 2.40.06 78 Jason Buchanan 2.40.07 79 Paul Olds 2.41.13 80 Mark Sanzaro 2.45.54 81 Ian McDonell 2.46.57 82 Andrew Garnsworthy 2.47.42 83 Michael Obst 2.47.43 84 Steven Linnell 2.54.00 85 Steven Collins 2.59.38 86 David Schaefer 2.59.54 87 Chris Locke 3.09.20 88 Andrew Harding 3.15.32 89 Darren Wright 3.15.33 90 Steven John Munn 3.16.14 91 Justin Dowey 3.24.52 92 Nathan Charlish 4.06.58 93 Jeffrey Munt 4.06.59 DNF Anthony Oloman DNF Travis Hall 30-39 Women 1 Connie Silvestri 4.25.58 2 Naomi Hansen 8.49 3 Narelle Ash 17.48 4 Susan Sim 42.56 5 Adrienne Dougal 56.15 6 Tamsin Barnes 1.00.15 7 Jodie Lothian 2.00.34 8 Nicci Ansley 2.03.42 9 Arranny Khuong 2.59.39 10 Debbie Hard 3.05.09 DNF Rebecca Hall 40-49 Men 1 Darren Timms 4.27.26 2 Kevin Jones 0.36 3 Tim Hay 2.16 4 Phil Hystek 3.47 5 Steve Purcell 5.24 6 Roger Allwright 13.27 7 Grant Ford 15.30 8 Chris McDonald 20.46 9 Ian Holm 21.56 10 Eric Lange 23.33 11 Paul Witzerman 23.51 12 Trevor Bell 31.16 13 John Travers 33.51 14 Richard Eggins 35.00 15 Tony Poutsma 36.41 16 Gary Rolton 43.12 17 Ian Collins 44.21 18 Robert Hain 52.14 19 John Minton 57.58 20 Frank Kenny 1.00.39 21 Rick Whitehead 1.02.13 22 David Crow 1.03.06 23 Martin Krumm 1.03.09 24 John Forbes 1.03.27 25 Col Cuthbert 1.03.59 26 Ken Altoft 1.09.48 27 Paul Grubner 1.10.16 28 Trevor Kidd 1.16.52 29 Phil Scudamore 1.34.14 30 Simon Carter 1.38.25 31 Blake Topping 1.39.09 32 Nick Samios 1.40.53 33 Paul Quatermass 1.41.07 34 Andrew Ryan 1.42.05 35 Scott May 1.47.09 36 Michael Vincent 1.54.10 37 Mark Cockayne 1.54.19 38 Jeff Shillington 2.03.31 39 Paul Smith 2.11.11 DNF Ronald Walker 40-49 Women 1 Meg Carrigan 4.43.22 2 Thoriene Egerton 1.02.48 3 Gillian Duncan 1.10.34 4 Leanne Burrows 1.26.07 50+ Men 1 Hans Dielacher 3.53.31 2 Andy McNaught 24.04 3 Bruce Wood 46.11 4 Roy Whitney 55.48 5 Dave Byrnes 1.07.44 6 Alfred Cerwen 1.08.51 7 Leigh Christensen 1.24.48 8 William Bartleet 1.45.05 9 Tony Moxon 1.48.02 10 Mark Myers 1.49.31 11 Malcolm Stayte 2.28.05 12 Terry Morgan 2.31.48 13 Peter Cooper 2.32.11 DNF Trevor Edwick 50+ Women 1 Lindy McNaught 6.05.36 Tandem 1 Kylie Van Haren/Mark Skroblin 6.26.45
Lite marathon
18-29 Men 1 Josh Keep 3.01.59 2 Matt Pauli 1.03.36 3 Andrew Pridannikoff 1.16.55 4 Joel Wooliey 1.22.48 5 George Tamblyn 1.22.49 6 Stuart Bushell 1.47.16 7 Craig Tschirpig 2.12.26 8 Robert Robbins 2.23.31 9 Mark Nichols 2.46.54 10 Andrew Oudyn 3.06.44 11 Michael Rodriguez 3.06.45 12 Ross Woods 3.15.04 13 Shaun Preece 3.21.18 14 Paul Woods 3.39.44 FIN Mike Zande FIN Marcos Caceres 18-29 Women 1 Lisa Mathison 3.36.08 2 Ady Ngawati 42.45 3 Tina McCotter 48.11 4 Kylie Maduna 1.14.33 5 Rebecca Josey 1.25.24 6 Rebecca Grant 1.34.50 7 Sarah Josey 1.49.00 8 Michelle Jones 2.28.11 9 Sarah Steenland 3.05.37 30-39 Men 1 Dan San Martin 2.56.44 2 David Willems 16.55 3 Justin Claridge 23.06 4 Andrew Davison 31.21 5 Peter York 41.00 6 Glen Murphy 43.19 7 Jason Hitchcock 45.14 8 Jason Gibson 47.16 9 Mick Corcoran 48.29 10 Peter Nimmo 51.36 11 Norman Doyle 52.00 12 Ryan Myler 59.00 13 Peter Barron 1.04.21 14 Brad Sheppard 1.04.54 15 Peter O'Gorman 1.06.32 16 Paul Jacobsen 1.09.12 17 Clive Wall 1.09.39 18 Jason Rowe 1.10.58 19 Robert Walker 1.11.04 20 Ian Wilson 1.11.28 21 Shameem Khan 1.13.44 22 Peter Harvey 1.18.02 23 Matthew Cleverly 1.18.05 24 Hank Wheeler 1.20.58 25 Timothy Binns 1.25.29 26 Rodney Gibson 1.27.07 27 Scott Humphris 1.34.16 28 Worthington 1.34.31 29 Kev Parker 1.35.32 30 Barry Peacock 1.36.17 31 Matt Forster 1.48.54 32 Andrew Patton 1.49.35 33 Adrian MacGregor 1.58.25 34 Check Kennedy 2.00.57 35 Craig Clintoft 2.00.58 36 David Grantley 2.01.16 37 Shane Isbester 2.03.50 38 Michael Thomas 2.04.02 39 Rod Watts 2.07.36 40 Darren Cahalane 2.09.44 41 Steven Turner 2.10.17 42 Jason Marsden 2.15.43 43 Andrew Barron 2.17.51 44 Garry Hicks 2.18.05 45 Darren Boman 2.20.12 46 Damien Doran 2.21.06 47 Anthony Courtney 2.22.09 48 Sean Collins 2.24.34 49 Ben Williams 2.26.51 50 Dean Burgess 2.47.09 51 Troy Barnett 2.47.25 52 David Buchanan 2.53.25 53 Tony Balliff 2.54.36 54 Ian Whatman 3.02.31 55 Darby Knudson 3.06.39 56 Sean Dennis 3.10.00 57 Dan Lewis 3.15.52 58 Alan Jamieson 3.33.04 59 Derek Chien 3.38.08 60 Steven Owen 3.38.23 FIN Scott Hartwell FIN Brent Tangey FIN Drew Edbrooke FIN Geoffrey Parton FIN Andrew Coles FIN Peter Orr DNF Steven Adams 30-39 Women 1 Wendy Cramp 5.16.57 2 Karen Ward 6.18 3 Katerina Brown 18.01 4 Maree Sykes 1.05.19 FIN Kylie Barrettt FIN Elizabeth Orr 40-49 Men 1 John Rafter 3.31.06 2 Craig Yeoman 19.07 3 Richard Bassett 20.09 4 Keith Jarrott 22.56 5 Andrew Watt 37.19 6 Michael Hamilton 49.05 7 Brian Debman 57.48 8 Stewart Cooke 1.03.23 9 Don Warnock 1.05.07 10 Steve Eggleton 1.05.21 11 John Warnock 1.08.35 12 Peter Creagh 1.18.23 13 Howard Van Der Klauw 1.20.12 14 Brad Saw 1.21.20 15 David Paynter 1.23.48 16 Noel Swain 1.32.15 17 Mark Brunkskill 1.37.12 18 Wayne Cabbie Russell 1.42.44 19 Jeff Isles 2.13.26 20 Wayne Holmquest 2.21.05 21 Gerard Corbett 2.21.59 22 Gary Craker 3.00.56 23 Trevor Furness 3.01.35 FIN Grant James FIN John Bath FIN John Russell FIN Andrew Patterson FIN Bradley McGregor FIN Reg Byrne 40-49 Women 1 Amanda Richards 3.53.36 2 Alison Forbes 1.11.51 3 Jane Trotter 1.29.32 4 Helen Walker 2.47.46 FIN Leanne Ardern 50+ Men 1 Alan Mumford 3.15.21 2 Greg Hickey 1.30.00 3 Warren Prior 1.39.45 4 Sinclair Currie 2.09.22 5 Peter Woods 3.24.27 50+ Women 1 Lesley Robinson 5.25.01
FIN = Finisher - rider started in full marathon.
