The UNE 12 Hours in the Piney has been run and won for 2012. The huge mountain biking event was run in perfect conditions on Saturday, March 10, from 10am to 10pm. The Armidale Pine Forest track was in great shape and the 150 riders raved about the variety and quality on the trails. The riders came from all over NSW and southern Queensland and the locals held their own against some very talented visiting riders. There was a real high-class event atmosphere out at the Piney with tents, catering, banners, music and bunting everywhere. As night fell, the lights on the bikes and helmets made for a spectacular sight.
The winner of the Solo Men’s division was Jason English from Port Macquarie. He did 21 laps of the nearly 12km course, which added up to around 250km over the 12 hours. Jason is the reigning 24-hour world champion for mountain biking and he was the defending champion after winning the Armidale race last year. This year he was pushed all the way by Andrew Hall from Canberra who also did 21 laps. Jason finished his laps in a quicker time to take the title. Third was Aaron Thompson who completed 19 laps.
Jason’s performance was made all the more remarkable as he finished a 6 day stage race on the south coast on Friday afternoon before driving all the way to Armidale with only 2 hours sleep on Friday night.
The winner of the Solo Women’s race was Wendy Stevenson. She rode strongly and completed 16 laps in the 12 hours. Second was Catherine Wood who also was very impressive in completing her 14 laps.
The winner of the Solo Master’s (over 40) division was Mark Wood who completed 14 laps.
There were a large number of solo riders with 31 people taking on this challenge. All of them were inspiring as they rode through the transition area, completing lap after lap.
The winners of the Men Pairs were Jamie Vogele and Geoff Barns from Port Macquarie. They completed an impressive total of 20 laps.
The winners of the Mixed Pairs were Tim Nelson and Sarah Nellman who completed 17 laps.
Perhaps the best performance of the day was by the winning Mixed 4s team. The local team of David Harris, Ben Brunckhorst, Fiona Brunckhorst and Ben Harris completed more laps that Jason English. This does not happen often. They did 22 laps.
The winning Men’s team of 4 was the UNE sponsored team of John Scott-Hamilton, Dan Nichol, Peter Harris and James Harris. They did 21 laps.
There was one Ladies team of 4 and they all rode strongly to complete 16 laps. Well done to locals Rachel Waugh, Nina Stone, Sonia Wrenford-Mobbs and Shireen Brunckhorst who represented sponsor “Skirt Sports”.
The Junior division of the full race was won by the fast improving NEMTB riders in their team called “The Cranky Things”. The team of Michael Harris, Kathryn Hosking, Bella Hosking and Emily Wooster completed 11 laps in their allowed 8 hours. Juniors were not allowed to ride at night. They beat junior teams from Tamworth and Port Macquarie.
There was also a kids race at 2pm where a number of younger riders raced around a separate kids track. Well done to all these juniors. Everyone was a winner in that race.
NEMTB would like to thank all their sponsors for helping to produce such a great event. The University of New England, Armidale Dumaresq Council, Hutchinson and Harlow Real Estate, Newcastle Permanent Building Society, Armidale Bicycle Centre, Skirt Sports and Ay Up Lights. Thanks also to Legal Minds for sponsoring the junior prizes. The club is looking forward to next year for an even bigger and better event. A huge thank you needs to go out to Drummond Memorial Public School who ran the catering tent, and to the SES and St John’s staff for helping.
Story: Stephen Chapman
